A HISTORY OF 

KANSAS 






Class __L 
Book 



i 



Copyright^ . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



A History of Kansas 



BY 






Anna E. Arnold 

AUTHOR OF CMCS AND CITIZENSHIP 




PUBLISHED BY 

THE STATE OF KANSAS 

STATE PRINTING PLANT 
TOPEKA 



COPYRIGHTED. 1914. BY ANNA E. ARNOLD 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



»1M 11 J3S 
"6 JO 'Q 



©CI.A379837 



PREFACE. 

No State has a history better calculated to inspire 
patriotism in its people than has Kansas. In this fact 
lies the greatest reason for teaching Kansas History in 
the schools. A knowledge of the difficulties that have 
been met and conquered in building the State will create 
in the minds of the boys and girls a greater respect for 
the sturdy qualities of the pioneers, it will give them a 
wholesome sense of the great cost at which the ease and 
comfort of to-day have been purchased, it will stimulate 
in them a desire to live up to the past. 

If the study of Kansas History is to accomplish these 
results, the subject must be presented in such a way as 
to arouse the interest of the pupils. They must feel its 
reality. They must catch its spirit. 

With the hope of fulfilling in some measure these re- 
quirements, this book has been prepared with the fol- 
lowing aims constantly in mind: to make it, as nearly 
as possible, a narrative ; to select from the wealth of mate- 
rial at hand such subject matter as is within the compre- 
hension of children, eliminating such matter as can be 
fully understood and appreciated only by mature minds; 
to present the general movement of the State's progress 
rather than a mass of unrelated facts. Only so much 
detail has been used as is necessary to a clear understand- 
ing of events. The purpose has not been to chronicle a 
multitude of events, but rather to show forth what man- 
ner of men and women were the builders of our State, 

(5) 



6 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

what motives actuated them, what conditions surrounded 
them, how they lived, and what they accomplished. 

An effort has been made to give the pupils a general 
view of the State's history as a whole, to give them a 
framework on which to build their later knowledge, and 
to leave them with a desire to learn more of Kansas 
history. 

Anna E. Arnold. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter page 

I. The Beginning of Kansas History 9 

II. Kansas Becomes a Part of the United States 16 

III. Exploration of the Kansas Country by the 

United States 20 

IV. Kansas as a Pathway 29 

V. Kansas as an Indian Country 46 

VI. Kansas Organized as a Territory 57 

VII. The Coming of the Settlers 6a 

VIII. The First Territorial Governmen: 73 

IX. Rival Governments in Kansas 79 

X. The Period of Violence 85 

XL The Period of Political Contests 95 

XII. Pioneer Life 103 

XIII. Kansas in the Civil War Ill 

XIV. The Half Century Since the Civil War 117 

XV. The Industries of Kansas 141 

XVI. Railroads in Kansas 172 

XVII. Education in Kansas 183 

XVIII. Kansas Memorials 201 

XIX. The Kansas Spirit 211 

Appendix 215 

(7) 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



QUIVIRA-KANSAS 

In that half-forgotten era, 
With the avarice of old, 
Seeking cities he was told 
Had been paved with yellow gold, 

In the kingdom of Quivira — 

Came the restless Coronado 
To the open fcansas plain, 
With his knights from sunny Spain; 
In an effort that, though vain, 

Thrilled with boldness and bravado. 

League by league, in aimless marching, 
Knowing scarcely where or why, 
Crossed they uplands drear and dry, 
That an unprotected sky 

Had for centuries been parching. 

But their expectations, eager, 
Found, instead of fruitful lands, 
Shallow streams and shifting sands, 
Where the buffalo in bands 

Roamed o'er deserts dry and meager. 

Back to the scenes more trite, yet tragic, 
Marched the knights with armor'd steeds; 
Not for them the quiet deeds; 
Not for them to sow the seeds 

From which empires grow like magic. 

Thus Quivira was forsaken; 
And the world forgot the place 
Through the lapse of time and space. 
Then the blue-eyed Saxon race 

Came and bade the desert waken. 

— Eugene Ware. 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



CHAPTER I 
THE BEGINNING OF KANSAS HISTORY 

More than four centuries have passed since Columbus 
discovered America. During that time the hunting 
ground of three hundred thousand Indi- 
ans has become the United States with its 
ninety- two million civilized people. In the center of 
this great nation, which occupies nearly half the area of 
the continent, lies Kansas, a rectangle four hundred 
miles long and two hundred miles wide. 

Kansas is a part of the great plain that slopes gradually 
from the foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the Mis- 
sissippi River. Its surface, cut by many eastward-flowing 
streams, lies level in the west but in the east curves into 
countless hills and valleys. 

On these broad prairies to-day are thousands of cattle, 
and great fields of corn, wheat, and alfalfa. Towns and 
cities are scattered over the State, and the country 
between is dotted with the homes of farmers. There 
are mines, factories, churches, schools, and colleges 
Uniting all are miles and miles of railroad. Kansas is now 
the home of more than a million and a half of busy, 
prosperous people. But it was not always so; these 
prairies were once used only by the Indian and the buffalo. 
If we are to understand how this change has come about 

(9) 



10 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

we must begin with the coming of the first white men 
to America. 

At that time Spain was the most powerful nation of 
Europe, and since she had furnished the funds for the 
The first voyage of Columbus she claimed the first 

white men right to America and became the pioneer 

in Kansas ^ the exploration f the New World. 

The Spaniards first explored the Gulf of Mexico and 
Florida, discovered the Pacific Ocean and the Mississippi 
River, and were the first to sail around the world. In 
1519 Cortez, a Spaniard, landed on the present site of 
Vera Cruz and marched into the heart of Mexico, the 
home of the Aztec Indians. He made himself master 
of that great region and called it New Spain. All of 
these expeditions were too far south to reach what is 
now Kansas, but only a few more years were to pass be- 
fore this far-off country was to be explored by the adven- 
turous Spaniards, the first white men to set foot on 
Kansas soil. 

In 1528 Narvaez, a Spaniard, led an exploring expedi- 
tion westward from Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. 

Through various misfortunes and hard- 
de Vaca sn *P s near ly a ^ °f the party perished. One 

of the commanders, Cabeza de Vaca, and 
three of his men were taken prisoners by the Indians. 
After being held in captivity nearly six years they 
succeeded in making their escape. They fled westward, 
and after an adventurous journey of nearly two years 
reached a Spanish settlement near the western coast of 
New Spain. The exact route followed by Cabeza de Vaca 
and his companions can never be known, but his accounts 
of their wanderings were largely the cause of the expedition 
of Coronado, who was the first white man known with 
certainty to have traveled across what is now Kansas. 



THE BEGINNING OF KANSAS HISTORY 11 

The chief purpose of all the Spanish explorers was to 
search for wealth. Cortez is said to have made this 

remark to the Indians: "We Spaniards 
Spaniards G are troubled with a disease of the heart 

for which we find gold, and gold only, a 
specific remedy." The hope of finding gold and precious 
stones lying about like pebbles lured many Spaniards 
into enterprises filled with terrible hardships. Reports of 
great cities of untold wealth to the northward, the " Seven 
Cities of Cibola," as they were called, had reached New 
Spain at various times, and when Cabeza de Vaca told 
similar tales that he had heard from the Indians it stirred 
the Spaniards to explore the region. 

Great preparation was made for an expedition. An 
army of three hundred Spaniards and eight hundred 
Coronado friendly Indians was gathered and placed 

under the command of Coronado. This 
was a large army for those times and the burden of fur- 
nishing it with arms and supplies fell heavily on New 
Spain. But so hopeful were the people of the success of 
the expedition that no sacrifice seemed too great. In 
the spring of 1540 the long march into unexplored 
country began. 

After months of travel in a northerly and then in a 
northeasterly direction, Coronado and his army reached 

the province of Cibola, which was prob- 
q u - v - r e a arc or ably in the western part of what is now 

New Mexico, and the "Seven Cities" 
proved to be ordinary adobe Indian villages. They took 
possession of the Indian supplies and spent the winter in 
the villages. The Indians, anxious to get rid of their un- 
welcome visitors, persuaded a Quivira Indian, whom 
they held as a prisoner, to tell the Spaniards tales of the 
wonderful land of Quivira in order to lead them off into 



12 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



the wilderness where they would die from lack of food 
and water. Coronado and his men listened to this Indian, 
whom they called "Turk," and followed him as a guide 
for many days. He led them steadily toward the east 
and after a time they became convinced that they were 
being deceived and made him confess that Quivira was far 
to the northward. They had been only too willing to 
listen to Turk's stories, but when they learned that he had 
misled them they put him to death. Supplies were now 
low and Coronado sent back the main body of the army, 
which was composed of footmen, and with thirty horse- 
men started northward. 



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^v ■P J ~^ CIBOLA l^oJ^"'Y" 


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\^^ City of MexicoVv* ^>- 


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The Journeys of Cabeza de Vaca and Coronado. 



THE BEGINNING OF KANSAS HISTORY 



13 



It must be remembered that the whole country was a 
vast wilderness without names or boundary lines, and we 
can describe the journey of the Spaniards 
only by using names and boundary lines 
that have come into existence long since 
that time. As nearly as can be learned, Coronado and 
his men entered Kansas about where Clark County now 
is, and went on northward, crossing the Arkansas River 



Coronado in 
Kansas 




" Francisco Vasqueth de Coronado, commander of an expedition, 
arrived at this place." 

at or near the site of Dodge City. From this point they 
followed the river to Great Bend, and then continued in a 
northeasterly direction to the vicinity of Junction City. 
At the end of their journey they set up a cross bearing the 
inscription: " Francisco Vasqueth de Coronado, com- 
mander of an expedition, arrived at this place." 

After all this weary journey they had reached Quivira 



14 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

and found it to be merely the home of a tribe of Indians, 
the Quiviras, later known as the Pawnees. 

Quivira found Coronado wrote in a letter to the King 
of Spain: 

"The country itself is the best I have ever seen for 
producing all of the fruits of Spain, for, besides the land 
itself being very fat and black, and being very well 
watered by rivulets, springs, and rivers, I found prunes 
like those in Spain and nuts and very good sweet grapes 
and mulberries. I remained twenty-five days in this 
province of Quivira, both to see and explore the country, 
and to find out whether there was anything beyond which 
could be of service to your Majesty, because the guides 
who had brought me had given me an account of other 
provinces beyond this. And what I am sure of is that 
there is not any gold or any other metal in all that 
country, and the other things of which they told me are 
nothing but little villages, and in many of these they do 
not plant anything, and do not have any houses, except 
of skins and sticks, and they wander around with the 
cows. So that the account they gave me was false, be- 
cause they wanted to get me to go there with the whole 
force, believing that as the way was through such unin- 
habitable deserts, and from lack of water they would 
get us where our horses and we would die of thirst. And 
the guides confessed this, and they said they did it by 
the advice of the natives of these provinces." l 

Empty-handed, Coronado and his little band of Spanish 
knights turned toward New Spain and carried to their 
Coronado's re- waiting countrymen the disappointing 
turn to New story of their two years' expedition. 

With this event fifty years had passed 
since the discovery of America, and for the next two 
and a half centuries little attention was paid to the Kan- 
sas country. 

1. Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. 



THE BEGINNING OF KANSAS HISTORY 15 

SUMMARY 

The history of Kansas begins with the first exploration 
of this country by white men nearly four hundred years 
ago. Spain was the first nation to explore the New World. 
The chief purpose of the Spaniards was to find gold. 
They had heard from the Indians of rich cities to the 
northward, and when Cabeza de Vaca told them similar 
tales the people cl New Spain decided to explore the 
country. They sent Coronado with a large army on a 
journey of exploration lasting two years. He failed to find 
gold but his expedition is of interest because he was 
the first white man known to have traversed what is now 
Kansas. 

REFERENCES 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 1-23. 

Foster, A History of the United States, p. 29. 

Spring, Kansas, pp. 17-19. 

Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 44-45. 

Bourne, Spain in America, (vol. in, of The American Nation: 
a History). 

Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics. 

Historical Collections, vol. vn, pp. 20, 40, 268, 573; vol. Vin, p. 
152; vol. x, p. 68; vol. XII, p. 219. 

Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How long has it been since Columbus discovered America? 

2. Compare the population at that time with the present popu- 
lation of the United States. 

3. In what part of the United States is Kansas? 

4. Describe briefly the western part of the Mississippi valley. 
Describe the surface of Kansas. 

5. What relation has Spain to the history of Kansas? Why 
did Spain claim the first right to America? Name some of the 
early discoveries of the Spaniards. 

6. Where was New Spain? 

7. What influenced the Spaniards in their ventures in the New 
World? 

8. Who was Cabeza de Vaca? Of what importance is the ac- 
count of his adventures? 

9. Tell the story of Coronado. What is his relation to Kansas 
history? 



CHAPTER II 

KANSAS BECOMES A PART OF THE UNITED STATES 

While the Spaniards were searching for wealth in the 

southern part of North America, the French were trading 

F with the Indians in the northern part along 

the St. Lawrence River and around the 
Great Lakes. Among the French were many Catholic 
priests, called Jesuits, who came to carry their religious 
faith to the Indians. In 1673, one of these Jesuits, Father 
Marquette, accompanied a trader named Joliet on an ex- 
pedition to explore the Mississippi River. They launched 
their canoes on the great river and floated downstream 
for hundreds of miles, between shores that in some places 
were thickly wooded, and in others were grassy plains. 
They went as far south as the mouth of the Arkansas 
River, and then turned and began the long, hard task of 
paddling back. 

Among those who heard of the journey of Marquette 
and Joliet was a young Frenchman, La Salle. He planned 

to explore the whole Mississippi basin 
Louisiana*" 682 anc * to take possession of it in the name of 

the King of France. In 1682, with a few 
companions, he floated down the Mississippi to its mouth. 
Here, with much ceremony, they planted a cross, buried 
a leaden plate inscribed with the arms of France, and de- 
clared that all the land drained by the Mississippi River 
and its tributaries should belong to France, and should 
be named Louisiana in honor of the French King, Louis 
XIV. Thus in 1682, nearly two centuries after the dis- 

(16) 



KANSAS BECOMES PART OF UNITED STATES 17 

covery of America, Kansas came into the possession of 
the French. 

The French soon planted a few colonies and forts along 
the Mississippi River and sent out explorers some of whom 
The end of Span- ma y nave entered the present bounds of 
ish and French Kansas. This roused the Spaniards in 
explorations Mexico, who wished to hold the territory 

for Spain, and they also sent expeditions. The armies 
of both nations suffered severely at the hands of the 
Indians and the exploration of the Kansas country was 
given up by both Spain and France, and for nearly a 
century more it lay almost forgotten. The next explora- 
tion of this territory was by people of another nation. 

While the Spaniards were busy in the South and the 
French in the North, another people, the English, began 
to make explorations in the new conti- 
nent. They did not come to hunt for gold, 
nor to trade with the Indians, but to found homes. They 
settled along the Atlantic coast between the French in 
Canada and the Spaniards in Florida, and claimed the 
country westward to the Pacific Ocean. 

As time went on and the settlements increased in 
number, the claims of the French and the English con- 
Conflict of flicted and caused much strife between 
French and the colonies of the two countries. The 
English claims question of the ownership of the land was 

not settled until the close of the French and Indian War 
in 1763. As a result of this war France gave up all her 
claims in America, practically everything east of the 
Mississippi to England, and that west of it to Spain. 
In 1800 Spain ceded her portion of America back to 
France. 

In the meantime the English colonies had fought the 
Revolutionary War and become an independent nation. 



18 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

In 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was President, the 

United States bought from France her tract of country 
lying west of the Mississippi River. This 

PurchaTeTi803. was known as the Louisiana Purchase, 
and the date is one to be remembered, 

for it marks the end of French claims in America, and it 

marks the time when what is now Kansas became a part 

of the United States. 1 

More than three centuries of American history had 

passed and the country west of the Mississippi River 
remained unsettled and practically un- 

One^century known . The Spaniard and the French- 
man had come and gone, but the Indian 

still hunted buffalo on the prairies. The white man had 

not yet made his home in the Kansas country. 

SUMMARY 

Spain explored in the South in search of wealth, France 
in the North to trade in furs with the Indians, and England 
along the coast between these two to establish homes. 
Spain claimed the Kansas country because of the explora- 
tion by Coronado, France through the claims of Marquette 
and La Salle, and England through the ocean-to-ocean 
claim. None of these nations succeeded in accomplishing 
anything here, and the Kansas country was left alone for 
nearly a century after it came into the possession of 
France. At the close of the French and Indian War the 
country west of the Mississippi was ceded to Spain. Later 
it came again into the hands of France, and was purchased 
by the United States in 1803. 

1. In 1819 the United States gave to Spain that part of Kansas 
lying south of the Arkansas River and west of the 100th meridian. 
This territory again became a Dart of the United States by the an- 
nexation of Texas in 1845. 



KANSAS BECOMES PART OF UNITED STATES 19 

REFERENCES 

Elson, History of the United States, pp. 161, 384. 

Fiske, Discovery of America, vol. II, chap. XII. 

Foster, A History of the United States. 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 24-40. 

Parkman, La Salle and the Great West. 

Spring, Kansas, pp. 19-20. 

Historical Collections, vol. IX, p. 250; vol. X, p. 336. 

Wilder, Annals of Kansas, pp. 15-18. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Who were the Jesuits? What can you say of Marquette? 
Joliet? La Salle? 

2. Contrast the motives of the French and the Spanish in coming 
to America. 

3. Why did the English come to the New World? 

4. What territory was claimed by the French? By the Spanish? 
By the English? 

5. To what nations did what is now Kansas successively belong? 
How and when did it first become a part of the United States? How 
long was this after the discovery of America? 



CHAPTER III 

EXPLORATION OF THE KANSAS COUNTRY BY THE 
UNITED STATES 

When the United States bought Louisiana the country 

from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean was a 

vast unknown area. President Jefferson 

President was ea g e r to learn something about the 

explorers great West, and sent out several exploring 

parties. 

The first expedition, sent in 1804, the year following the 

purchase of Louisiana, was in charge of Meriwether Lewis 

, ^ . and William Clark. They were instructed 
Lewis and Clark ,. __. . _. . 

to move up the Missouri River and on 

to the Pacific Ocean. After a difficult journey lasting 
two and a half years the party returned to St. Louis and 
brought to the people of the United States much im- 
portant information concerning the West. It is the part 
of their journey along the border of what is now Kansas 
in which we are most interested. 

With about forty-five men and three boats Lewis and 
Clark started up the Missouri River in the spring of 1804. 

,_, . Two horsemen rode along the bank to 

The journey . & 

hunt and bring in game which was to go 

far toward supplying provisions for the expedition. After 

a five weeks' journey they reached the mouth of the 

Kansas River, and encamped that night on the present 

site of Kansas City, Kansas. From there they continued 

up the Missouri River where it forms the present bound- 

(20) 



EXPLORATION OF THE KANSAS COUNTRY 21 

ary line of Kansas, along the border of what has since 
become Leavenworth, Atchison, and Doniphan counties. 
Their account of the journey describes the country through 
which they passed and the different Indian tribes and 
villages they saw. It speaks of an Indian tribe as "hunt- 
ing on the plains for buffalo which our hunters have seen 
for the first time." Again we read, "Pecan trees were 
this day seen, and large quantities of deer and wild tur- 
key." By July 4 they had reached a point not far from 
the present city of Atchison. They did not have the 
means for much of a celebration, but their observance of 
the day included the firing of "an evening gun" and the 
naming of two streams, Fourth of July Creek, and Inde- 
pendence Creek. Independence Creek still retains its 
name. A week later they passed the fortieth parallel, 
which afterward became the northern boundary of Kan- 
sas, and continued on their way to the Pacific. 

In 1806 another exploring party was sent out in 
command of Zebulon Montgomery Pike, a young lieuten- 
ant in the army. He was instructed to 
expedition ascend the Missouri River, visit the vari- 

ous Indian tribes in the Kansas country, 
go west until the frontier of New Mexico was reached, then 
south toward the source of the Red River which he was 
to descend to the Mississippi, and thence to St. Louis, the 
starting point. The journey did not, however, follow 
just this route. 

The Osage Indians lived in the eastern part of Kan- 
sas, south of the Kansas River. At their villages Pike 
purchased supplies for the overland jour- 
Osage'lndians ne ^- From there he went west and then 
northwest toward the Pawnee village 
which is believed to have been within the bounds of what 
is now Republic County. 



22 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

About the time he crossed the Solomon River he came 
upon the trail of Spanish troops. It seems that the 
authorities in Mexico had in some way 
the Pawnees heard of the Pike expedition and had sent 
an army of five hundred men to intercept 
him. These forces missed each other, but when Pike 
reached the village of the Pawnee Indians he found them 
in possession of many blankets, bridles, saddles, and other 
things which they had received from the Spaniards. After 
having been visited with much ceremony by the mounted 
and lordly army from Mexico, the Indians were not 
inclined to be courteous to Pike and his score of dusty, 
bedraggled footmen. After much unpleasantness and 
delay a council attended by four hundred warriors was 
held. In his opening address Pike spoke, among other 
things, of the numerous Spanish flags in the village. 
Pointing to one which floated above the tent of the head 
chief, he demanded that it be lowered and that an American 
flag be put in its place. Several Indians made speeches 
without mentioning the flag. Pike again told them they 
must choose between the Spanish and the American 
governments. The Americans awaited the answer in 
anxious suspense. Finally an old chief arose. He slowly 
hauled down the Spanish flag, laid it at Pike's feet, 
and received the American flag in return. This he un- 
furled above the chief's tent, and for the first time, so far 
as is known, the Stars and Stripes floated over Kansas. 

From this place Pike and his men moved southwest 
to the Arkansas River, where the party divided, some 
„., . _ . , of them going down the river and on 

Pike in Colorado . ° , , . 

home. Pike and his remaining men, in- 
stead of searching for the Red River according to instruc- 
tions, followed the Arkansas River into what is now 
Colorado. They pushed westward, and after many days 



EXPLORATION OF THE KANSAS COUNTRY 



23 



of travel sighted a mountain which appeared at first like 
a small blue cloud but which proved to be a great bald 
peak of the Rocky Mountains. This peak has since bean 
named Pike's Peak in honor of the explorer. By this 
time it was winter and their supplies were low. Pike and 
his men suffered terribly from cold and hunger while 




The expedition of Pike, and the location of the original Indian tribes. 
There were no clearly defined boundaries between the tribes. 

wandering among the mountains. Hoping to better their 
condition they moved toward the southwest, only to find 
themselves taken prisoners in Spanish territory. Later, 
however, they were escorted across Texas to the Ameri- 
can frontier in Louisiana and released. 

A whole year had passed before they found themselves 
again in St. Louis, a year of hardship for them, but well 
worth while, nevertheless, for Pike brought 
back a great deal of valuable informa- 
tion. That he was a better soldier than 
farmer may be seen from this passage taken from his 
journal: 

"From these immense prairies may rise one great ad- 
vantage to the United States, viz., the restriction of our 



The return of 
Pike 



24 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



population to certain limits, and thereby a continuation 
of the union. Our citizens, being so prone to rambling 
and extending themselves on the frontiers, will, through 
necessity, be constrained to limit their extent on the west 
to the borders of the Missouri and the Mississippi, while 
they leave the prairies, incapable of cultivation, to the 
wandering aborigines of the country." 1 

Another explorer, Major Long, who came in 1819 and 
1820, likewise expressed the idea that most of the country 

was unfit for cultivation, and therefore 
Ainerica^Desert uninhabitable by an agricultural people. 

He even went so far as to say the country 
bore a "resemblance to the deserts of Siberia." Washing- 
ton Irving, the great writer, said of this region: "It could 
be well named, the Great American Desert. It spreads 




An Indian Village. The tribes that lived in permanent homes built 
lodges consisting of an embankment of earth topped with a row 
of poles brought together at the center and thatched with bark 
and grass. 



1. Coues, Expedition of Zebulon Montgomery Pike. 



EXPLORATION OF THE KANSAS COUNTRY 



25 



forth into undulating and treeless plains and desolate 
sandy wastes, wearisome to the eye from their extent and 
monotony. It is a land where no man permanently abides, 
for at certain seasons of the year there is no food for the 
hunter or his steed/' 

The views of these men largely molded public opinion 
concerning the West. The country out of which has been 
carved such prosperous agricultural states as Oklahoma, 
Kansas, and Nebraska was, a hundred years ago, known 
as the "Great American Desert," and was so named 
on the maps of that time. 

The western prairies had for untold ages been occu- 
pied by Indians. At the time of Pike's expedition there 
were four tribes living within the pres- 
?n d Kansas beS ent bounds of Kansas. These were the 
Kanza, the Osage, the Pawnee, and the 
Comanche tribes. The Kanza, or Kaw, Indians lived in 
the northeastern part of 
the State and were the 
ones seen by Lewis and 
Clark in their expedition 
up the Missouri River. 
It is from this tribe that 
Kansas probably received 
its name. The Osage In- 
dians were located in the 
eastern part, south of the 
Kansas River. The Paw- 
nee tribe lived north and 
west of the Kanza Indi- 
ans. It was in the Osage 
village that Pike secured 
supplies for his journey, 
and in the Pawnee village Interior of an Indian Lodge. 




26 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

that he caused the Spanish flag to be lowered. The Paw- 
nees were once called the Quiviras. The first of their 
tribe that we know anything about was "Turk," who 
led Coronado into the wilderness. These three tribes 
lived in permanent homes and had their tribal villages, but 
the fourth tribe were wanderers. They were the Co- 
manches, sometimes called the Padoucas, and they roved 
over the western part of Kansas and adjacent territory, 
hunting buffalo and following the herds as they grazed 
from place to place. They were fine horsemen, and brave, 
but very fierce and warlike. 

This was the Kansas of a century ago. At that time 
it had received neither name nor boundaries. For the 

first fifty years that this region was a 
IceiUur n y S ago f P art of the United States, that is, from 

the purchase of Louisiana until Kansas 
was organized as a territory in 1854, the country was 
little used by the white people except as a pathway 
to the West. 



SUMMARY 

President Jefferson, wishing to learn something of the 
unknown western country, sent out two exploring ex- 
peditions. The first, in 1804, was in charge of Lewis 
and Clark who were to follow the Missouri River and to 
go on across the mountains until they reached the Pacific 
coast. They passed along the northeast border of Kansas. 
The next exploring party was in command of Pike. His 
route was somewhat in the form of a circle. Beginning 
at St. Louis it was to pass through Kansas, then south, 
then east, and up the Mississippi to St. Louis. He 
visited the Osage Indians in eastern Kansas, the Paw- 
nee Indians in northern Kansas where he raised the 
American flag, and then marched into Colorado where 
he discovered Pike's Peak. From Colorado he went into 
what is now New Mexico, where he was taken prisoner by 



EXPLORATION OF THE KANSAS COUNTRY 27 

the Spaniards. They took him nearly to the Mississippi 
River and released him. On his return he reported this 
country as unfit for settlement, and his opinion was 
shared by later explorers. At the time of Pike's expe- 
dition there were four tribes of Indians in Kansas, the 
Osages, the Kanzas, the Pawnees, and the Comanches. 

REFERENCES 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 31-41. 
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 49-53. 
Coues, Expedition of Zebulon Montgomery Pike. 
Blackmar, Kansas, vol. II. 

Historical Collections, vol. IX, p. 574; vol. VII, pp. 261-317; vol. 
VI, p. 325; vol. x, pp. 15-159. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What was known of the Louisiana Purchase at the time it was 
acquired by the United States? 

2. Who were Lewis and Clark? Give an account of their expedi- 
tion as it related to Kansas. 

3. What route was Pike instructed to take 7 

4. Describe Pike's visit to the Osages. His visit to the Pawnees. 
By what other name do we know the Pawnees? 

5. Give an account of the remainder of Pike's journey. 

6. What was Pike's opinion of the Kansas country? Long's 
opinion? Washington Irving 's opinion? 

7. How much of Kansas did the Louisiana Purchase include? 

8. What Indian tribes lived within the present bounds of Kansas? 
Locate and tell something of each. 

9. When was Kansas Territory organized? How long was this 
after the Louisiana purchase? 

10. What use did the white people make of Kansas during this 
period? 



CHAPTER IV 

KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 

Nearly three centuries passed from the time Cortez 
led the Spaniards into Mexico until Kansas became a 

part of the United States. During those 
century ago years Spanish settlements had increased 

in number until at the time of Pike's expe- 
dition Mexico included most of what is now California, 
Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado. 

Santa Fe, said to be the second oldest city in the United 
States, was the most important point on the northern 

frontier of Mexico. In those days it was 

not like the busy American Santa Fe of 
to-day. It had about two thousand inhabitants, practically 
all Spaniards, and they lived in little adobe houses ar- 
ranged around a public square after the manner of Spanish 
cities. 

The "Great American Desert" lay between Santa Fe 
and the settlements of the western border of the United 

States. But Captain Pike's interesting 
SaluaVe Trail descriptions of the wealth and resources 

of the Spanish country stirred up enthusi- 
asm, and Americans began to make their way across the 
plains to trade with the Spaniards. Santa Fe soon be- 
came an important trading point for all of northeastern 
Mexico. The traders, on their journeys to the Spanish 
city, wore a pathway that crossed the length of Kansas. 
This pathway came to be called the "Santa Fe Trail." 

(29) 



KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 31 

Although a few earlier trips were made, the trade 
with Santa Fe really began in the year 1822 with the 
Captain Beck- journey of Captain Becknell, of Missouri. 
neil the first He had started out the year before to 

tra er trade with the Indians, and had gone on 

with a party of Mexican rangers to Santa Fe where he 
sold his small supply of merchandise so profitably that 
he decided to try again on a larger scale. In 1822 he 
took about thirty men and five thousand dollars' worth 
of merchandise. His success encouraged others, and a 
regular trade with Santa Fe was soon established. 

For several years most of the transportation along the 
Trail was done with pack mules. A caravan of pack 
Merchandise mules usually numbered from fifty to 
carried on two hundred, each animal carrying about 

pack mules three hundred poun d s of merchandise. 

From the earliest times the Mexicans had used pack 
mules as a means of 
transportation, and 
were skilled in hand- 
ling them. For this 
reason the American 
traders usually em- 
ployed Mexicans for 
the work of the 

pack train. Theav- Pack Mules - 

erage rate of travel of a mule train was from twelve to fif- 
teen miles a day. Since the Trail was nearly eight hundred 
miles long, fifty to sixty days were required for the trip. 
Probably the first time that wagons were used was 
in 1824, when a company of traders left Missouri with 
twenty-five wagons and a train of pack 
on*h™Tran mules. This experiment was so satisfac- 

tory that the use of wagons soon became 




32 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

general and mules were used less and less as pack 
animals. 

Travel over the Santa Fe Trail rapidly increased, and 
the history of those days is filled with stories of ex- 
citing adventure, of danger, of privation, 

t T h h e^ndi d a e ns S and and of deeds of courage. The source 
of greatest danger and excitement was 
the Indians, for they did not take kindly to the white 
men's use of their hunting grounds. For several years 
the traders crossed the plains in small parties, each man 
taking only two or three hundred dollars' worth of goods, 
and they were seldom molested. But peace did not last 
long. The Indians soon learned more about the journeys 
of the traders and how to estimate the value of their 
stock. Also, many of the traders considered every 
Indian a deadly enemy and killed all that fell into their 
power simply because some wrong was known to have 
been committed by Indians. This treatment tended to 
stir up the hatred of the red men and to make them 
watch every opportunity for revenge. 

An example of the enmity between the Indians and the 
traders may be seen in an occurrence of 1828. Two young 
men went to sleep on the bank of a stream a short distance 
from their caravan and were fatally shot, it was supposed, 
with their own guns. When their comrades found them 
one was dead, and the other died by the time the caravan 
reached the Cimarron River, about forty miles farther on. 
During the simple burial ceremonies a party of six or 
seven Indians appeared on the other side of the river. It 
is probable that these Indians knew nothing of the crime 
committed or they would not have approached the white 
men. Some of the men took this view, but, against their 
advice, the others fired and killed all of the Indians but 
one, who escaped to carry the news to his tribe. The 



KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 33 

Indians of the wronged tribe then followed the caravan 
to the Arkansas River where they robbed the traders 
of nearly a thousand head of horses and mules. Other 
robberies and murders followed until it became necessary 
for the traders to petition the National Government for 
troops. The next year soldiers escorted the caravan 
nearly to the Cimarron River. Government protection 
was furnished again in 1834, and in 1843. In the other 
years the traders fought their own way, but the day of 
small parties was over. For mutual protection, the traders 
banded together. A single big caravan started out each 
spring as soon as the grass was sufficient to pasture their 
animals, and returned in the fall. 

For many years the city of Franklin, on the Missouri 
River, was the starting point of the traders, the place 
The starting where they purchased their goods and 
point of the their outfits. Later, Independence, Mis- 

souri, and finally Westport which is now 
a part of Kansas City, became the emporium of the Santa 
Fe trade. The tourists and traders began to gather about 
the first of May for the journey that would begin near 
the middle of that month. 

The ordinary supplies to be taken for each man were 
about fifty pounds of flour, fifty pounds of bacon, ten 

Supplies taken P ounds of coffee > twenty pounds each of 
sugar, rice, and beans, and a little salt. 

Anything else was considered an unnecessary luxury and 

was seldom taken. The buffalo furnished fresh meat for 

the travelers. 

After the first few years horses were little used on the 

Trail except for riding. A wagon was usually drawn by 
eight mules or oxen, though some of the 

wagons larger ones required ten or twelve. The 

large wagons often carried as much as 



34 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Council Grove 
the meeting 
place 



i 



five thousand pounds of merchandise and supplies. The 
loading of the wagons for a journey of nearly eight hun- 
dred miles was a very particular piece of work. 

Although the traders banded together in one big cara- 
van, they did not all start from the same place nor at 
the same time. The Kanza and Osage 
Indians seldom committed worse deeds 
than petty thievery, and the more warlike 
Comanches and Pawnees did not often appear along the 

first two hundred miles 
of the Trail. The place 
where all the wagons 
united to form a cara- 
van was Council Grove, 
a point about one hun- 
dred and fifty miles 
west of Independence. 
In those days Council 
Grove consisted of a 
strip of fine timber 
along the Neosho val- 
ley. It is said to have 
been named in 1825 by 
the United States Com- 
missioners who met on 
this spot some Osage 
Indians, with whom 
they made a treaty for 
the right of way for the 
Santa Fe Trail. About 

Council Oak, under which the Com- 1850 a blacksmith shop 

missioners and Indians met at Coun- and two or three trad- 

cil Grove to make their treaty. It is , cfnrp^ wprp P^tah- 

still standing. A Santa Fe marker ers stores wer ^ es taD " 

has been placed beneath its branches, lished at Council Grove 




KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 35 

and this place became "the last chance for supplies" for 
westbound travelers. 

We can not get an idea of those days in any better 
way, perhaps, than by following an account of one of the 
caravans. Josiah Gregg, who crossed the 
G°reg" eyS ° prairie eight times, has left a very in- 

teresting record of his experiences. Many 
of the following facts are taken from his account of the 
journey of 1831. 

For this particular trip there were two hundred men 
and nearly a hundred wagons, with a dozen smaller 
vehicles, and two carriages carrying can- 
caravan 11 ° f non - The total value of the merchandise 
was about $200,000. For so large an un- 
dertaking it was, of course, necessary to have some kind 
of organization. According to custom, therefore, they 
elected officers and adopted a set of rules. The head 
man was the "Captain of the Caravan," who directed 
the order of travel, selected the camping grounds, and 
performed many other duties of a general nature. The 
wagons were divided into four groups, each group under 
the charge of a lieutenant, who selected crossings and 
superintended the "forming" of the camp. The men were 
well armed with rifles, shotguns, and an abundant supply 
of pistols and knives. 

When the time came to start from Council Grove the 
command " Catch up! Catch up! " sounded by the captain 
and passed on to all the groups, started a 
th/caravai? ° scene of hurry and uproar as the teamsters 
vied with each other to be first to shout 
"All's set!" After a period of shouting at animals, the 
clanking of chains, and the rattling of harness and yokes, 
all were ready. The command "Stretch out!" was given, 
and the line of march began. 



36 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




Crossing the Plains. 

Council Grove seemed to form the western boundary 
of the very rich, fertile, and well-timbered country. From 
The country nere westward the streams were lined with 

west of Council but little timber growth, and much of 
that was cotton wood. The country was 
mostly prairie, with the vegetation gradually becoming 
more scarce. The traders usually lashed under their 
wagons a supply of logs for needed repairs, for Council 
Grove furnished the last good wood they would pass. 
Westward from Council Grove not a single human habi- 
tation, not even an Indian settlement, was to be seen 
along the whole route. It is difficult to imagine such a 
condition in Kansas only eighty years ago. 

Soon after leaving Council Grove the traders began 
watching for buffalo, and when a small herd was sighted 

_ . , , it created much excitement. About half 

Buffalo sighted .. . , ,. , 

the men had never seen these animals 
before. All the horsemen rushed toward the herd, and 
some of the drivers even left their teams and followed 
on foot. 



KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 



37 




Pawnee Rock 



Buffaloes, sometimes called American bison. They were described 
by Cabeza de Vaca as "crooked-backed oxen." 

After a few more days of travel, during which nothing 
more serious happened than a few false alarms of Indians, 
they reached the Arkansas River. Another 
day's travel over a level plain brought 
them in sight of Pawnee Rock, a great rock standing on 

the plains near the Big Bend 
of the Arkansas, and a land- 
mark known from one end of 
the Trail to the other. The 
surrounding country was not 
occupied by any tribe of In- 
dians, but was claimed by all 
of them as a hunting ground, 
for it was a fine pasture for buf- 
falo. For many years it had 
been the scene of bloody bat- 
tles between different tribes. 
Pawnee Rock. The Rock afforded an excel- 




38 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

lent hiding place and retreat. Since the old Trail passed 
within a few yards of it, this became a dreaded spot for 
the traders, for at this point they seldom escaped a skirmish 
with the Indians. The Rock probably received its name 
from some of the bloody deeds of the Pawnees, who 
were especially connected with these scenes. 

When the caravan camped at Ash Creek the traders 

found a few old moccasins scattered around and some 

camp fires still burning, which seemed to 

Forming camp . ^ 

indicate the near presence of Indians. 
They had, up to this point, marched in two columns, but 
after crossing Pawnee Fork they formed four lines for 
better protection in case of attack. In camp the wagons 
were arranged in the form of a hollow square, each line 
forming a side. This provided an enclosure for the ani- 
mals when needed, and a fortification against the Indians. 
Ordinarily the camp fires were lighted outside the square, 
the men slept on the ground there, and the animals were 
picketed near. 

The next important stopping place was The Caches, 
near the present site of Fort Dodge. All that marked 

~, _ , this spot from the surrounding country 

i Jti© i^acnes - . . . t a 

was a group of pits m the ground. A 

number of years before, a small party of traders had 

attempted to go to Santa Fe in the fall. By the time 

they reached the Arkansas River a heavy snowstorm forced 

them to take shelter on a large island, where they were 

kept for three months by the severe winter. During 

this time most of their animals perished. When spring 

came, having no way to carry their goods, they made 

some caches 1 where they stored their merchandise until 

they could brmg mules to haul it to Santa Fe. 

1. A cache was made by digging a j«ug-shaped hole in the ground 
and lining it with dry grass, or sticks, or anything to keep out 



KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 39 

At Cimarron Crossing the Trail divided, and did not 
reunite until within a few miles of Santa Fa The south- 
The Trail ern rou te was shorter, but it meant 

divided into crossing fifty miles of desert before 

reaching the Cimarron River. In all that 
stretch of level plain there was no trail, nor landmark, 
nor stream of water. Travelers sometimes lost their way 
in this desert, and unless they had prepared for this part 
of the journey by taking along a sufficient supply of 
water, they perished of thirst. 

This caravan decided to take the southern route. A 
band of Indians soon appeared, carrying an American 

flag as a token of peace. They talked with 
wkh indVans 06 tne traders by means of signs and told 

them there were immense numbers of 
Indians ahead. A little later a band of warriors appeared 
and threatened to fight. There was great excitement as 
the caravan prepared for battle and the Indians con- 
tinued to pour over the hills. But there was no fighting, 
for the chief came forward with his "peace pipe" from 
which the captain took a whiff. The warriors were 
ordered back to rejoin the long train of squaws and 
papooses who were following with the baggage. There 
were probably three thousand Indians in this party, and 
they moved down into the valley and pitched their wig- 
wams. The traders felt sure that since the women and 
children were along the Indians would not be hostile, and 
they, therefore, formed their camp a few hundred yards 
away. The Indians gathered around to gaze at the wag- 
ons, for it was probably the first time most of them had 

moisture. Then the goods were packed in and the opening closed 
very carefully by replacing the sod and carrying away the earth that 
was removed so that no sign was left by which the cache might be 
discovered. Sometimes a camp fire was built over it to destroy all 
traces of the cache. 



40 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

ever seen such vehicles. Some of them followed to the 
next camp, and the next day a large number of them 
gathered around the caravan. This sort of thing con- 
tinued until the traders made up a present of fifty or 
sixty dollars' worth of goods to "seal the treaty of peace." 

Some days later the caravan met a Mexican buffalo 
hunter. He told the traders the news from Santa Fe, 
the first they had heard since the return 
news fiFSt of the caravan of the year before. To- 

day Kansas City and Santa Fe are little 
more than twenty-four hours apart by rail, and we read 
the latest news from both places in the morning and 
evening papers. 

Round Mound, standing nearly a thousand feet above 
the level of the surrounding plain, in what is now New 
„ , ^ , Mexico, was one of the landmarks along 

Round Mound ,1 m -i a ^ - i .l • j. ^ ^ ^ 

the Trail. At that point the caravan had 
completed about three-fourths of the journey to Santa Fe. 
As they approached the Mound some of the party 
decided to ascend it. They felt certain that it could 
not be more than half a mile away, but they had to go 
fully three miles before reaching it. This remarkable 
deception in distance is characteristic of the West. 1 

1. Another phenomenon that makes the traveler in a dry or 
desert country afraid to trust his eyes is the mirage. He often sees 
what seem to be lakes, trees, buildings, cities, only to find on 
nearer approach that they all disappear. As Kansas has come under 
cultivation the mirage has become less frequent, but it is still seen 
in the western part of the State. Here is a description of one seen 
in early Kansas: 

"On approaching the town of Lerny, about a mile and a quarter 
this side, we found the whole intermediate space between us and the 
grove of trees beyond the town apparently occupied by a beautiful 
lake. On the apparent shore next to ourselves the road ran down 
and disappeared in the lake, as did the fence upon one side of the 
road, while the placid and beautiful water extended upon the right 
and left, until lost in the distance. The trees in the distance ap- 
peared to be immersed for half their length in the lake, as if growing 



KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 41 

Nothing of particular note occurred from Round Mound 
to the end of the journey. 

The arrival of the caravan at Santa Fe was a source of 
excitement for both the traders and the city and was cel- 
ebrated with much festivity. The traders 
Santa Fe nac * entered what was in those days a 

foreign country and had to pay duties 
on their goods at the custom house. Then came the 
business of selling these goods to those who had come 
in from the surrounding country to buy, after which the 
traders, or freighters as they were often called, prepared 
for the long return journey, planning to finish the round 
trip before the winter began. This was but one of many 
trips made over the Santa Fe Trail. 

There was a war between the United States and Mex- 
ico in 1846- , 48. The trouble between the two countries 
Travel across checked the Santa Fe trade between the 
Kansas during years 1843 and 1850, but even under 
these circumstances there was much travel 
across Kansas during the '40's. 1 There were four principal 
classes of these travelers: the soldiers, the Oregon emi- 
grants, the Mormons, and the California gold seekers. 

The war with Mexico broke out in 1846, and many of 
the United States soldiers were sent to that country by 
way of the Santa Fe Trail. This in- 
creased the travel across the prairies. 

The remote unsettled region in the Northwest, known 

in the water. Even the reflection of the trees, and of the clouds 
above, was distinctly visible. We approached the vision and it van- 
ished." 

1. Because of the increasing migration westward the National 
Government decided to send out expeditions for the purpose of dis- 
covering the best routes across the mountains to the Pacific. John 
C. Fremont was selected for this task, and between 1842 and 1850 
he made four journeys across the plains. Among the scouts who 
acted as his guides was the famous hunter and trapper and Indian 
fighter, Kit Carson. 



42 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

as Oregon, was soon to become the home of civilized peo- 
ple. In 1842 wagon trains of emigrants 
settlers*^ " began to undertake the long and weary 

journey to that far-off country. Others 
soon followed, and during the next few years many thou- 
sands of people settled in the Oregon country. 

In those days the Mormon Church had not been long 
established, but their beliefs had brought the Mormons 
into trouble with the people around them 
and with the Government, and they had 
been forced to move several times. The last time was in 
1845, when they left Nauvoo, Illinois, and began the long 
and perilous journey to the valley of Great Salt Lake, in 
which region the main body of them remains to-day. 

In 1848 a man named James Marshall, who was 
running a sawmill near the present site of Sacramento, 
California, discovered shining particles of 
"Forty-niners" Sold in the mill race, and it was soon 
found that there were rich gold fields in 
that part of the country. The news spread, not rapidly 
as it would to-day, for there were no railroad or telegraph 
lines west of the Mississippi River and only a few east 
of it, but within a short time the whole country and even 
Europe had heard of the California gold fields, and people 
from all parts of the world began to make their way 
to the Pacific coast. Some went by water but more of 
them made the journey overland. Long lines of wagons, 
or prairie schooners as they were called, wound their 
way across the plains and over the mountains to Cali- 
fornia. It is estimated that ninety thousand people 
passed through Kansas on their way to California during 
the two years 1848 and 1849, a few of them to gain wealth, 
but thousands to be disappointed, and many to perish 
on the way. 



KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 43 

The Oregon settlers, the Mormons, and the gold seek- 
ers entered Kansas at or near Atchison, Leavenworth, St. 
Joseph, or Westport, and moved toward 
Trail regon the northwest, crossed the border into Ne- 
braska, and went on across the mountains. 
The road worn by this westward -moving stream of emi- 
grants was known as the Oregon Trail, though it was 
sometimes called the Mormon Trail, and more often the 
California Road. For two thousand miles the Oregon 
Trail stretched away through an utter wilderness, and 
every mile of it came to be the scene of hardship and 
suffering, of battle, or of death. It was one of the most 
remarkable highways in history. It had several branches, 
and in many places it followed different routes at different 
times. The largest number of travelers over this Trail 
entered Kansas at Westport and followed for a short 
distance the Santa Fe Trail. Near the present town of 
Gardner stood a signboard on which were the words, 
"Road to Oregon/' At this point the two historic high- 
ways divided. It has been said that, "never before nor 
since has so simple an announcement pointed the way to 
so long and hard a journey." 

SUMMARY 

The Santa Fe Trail was a great road about 775 miles 
long, beginning successively at the Missouri towns, Frank- 
lin, Independence, and Westport, and extending westward 
to Santa Fe. Four hundred miles of its length were in 
Kansas. Travel began in 1822 for the purpose of trading 
with Mexico. The first merchandise was carried on pack 
mules, but wagons began to be used in 1824. The traders 
experienced much trouble with the Indians, and in 1829 
they began going together in big caravans for protec- 
tion. The gathering place was Council Grove, where they 
organized and started. A few of the well-known sites 
along the Trail were Pawnee Rock, Ash Creek, Pawnee 



44 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Fork, and The Caches. At Cimarron Crossing the Trail 
divided. The northern branch followed the Arkansas 
and crossed the mountains over practically the same 
route as that followed by the Santa Fe Railway to-day. 
The southern branch was the cut-off across the desert. 
Another historic highway was the Oregon Trail, sometimes 
called the Mormon Trail and sometimes the California 
Road. This Trail crossed the northeast corner of Kansas. 

REFERENCES 

Inman, The Old Santa Fe Trail. 
Parrish, The Great Plains. 

Pamphlet by Historical Society, Santa Fe Trail. 
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 42-49. 
Gregg, Commerce of the Prairies. 
Blackmar, Kansas, vol. II, p. 645. 
Andreas, History of Kansas, p. 54. 

Historical Collections, vol. vin, p. 137; vol. IX, p. 552; vol. xil, 
pp. 253-269. 

Hunt, California the Golden. 

Aplington, Pilgrims of the Plains. (A novel.) 

QUESTIONS 

1. What part of the United States did Mexico own a hundred 
years ago? 

2. Describe the city of Santa Fe. How did trade first begin 
with Santa Fe? 

3. Tell about the journey of Captain Becknell. 

4. Discuss the use of pack mules on the Trail. When were 
wagons first used? 

5. What was the attitude of the Indians and the traders toward 
each other? 

6. What places were in turn the starting point of the traders? 

7. What supplies were usually taken? 

8. How did Council Grove get its name? Of what importance 
was the place? 

9. Who was Josiah Gregg? 

10. Describe the organization of the caravan. The starting. 

11. What occurred when buffalo were sighted? 

12. What is told of Pawnee Rock? 

13. How was camp formed at Ash Creek? 



. KANSAS AS A PATHWAY 45 

14. Describe The Caches. How did this place receive its 
name? 

15. Where did the Trail divide? Describe each route. 

16. What experience did the travelers have with the Indians? 

17. Explain the occurrence at Round Mound. 

18. Describe the arrival of the caravan at Santa Fe. 

19. Discuss the Santa Fe trade during the '40 's. 

20. Name the classes of travelers who crossed Kansas in the 
40 's, and give an account of each. 

21. Name and describe the trail made by these travelers. 



CHAPTER V 
KANSAS AS AN INDIAN COUNTRY 

During the years when the white men were traveling 

back and forth across Kansas they were not making 

Kansas settlements here. The country remained 

belonged to in the undisputed possession of the In- 

the Indians ^^ The white men did nof . want it 

as yet. They looked upon these vast prairies, not as 
a resource, but as so much land to be crossed in reach- 
ing places farther west. But changing conditions in the 
states east of the Mississippi River made people begin to 
look upon Kansas in a different light. The country there 
was becoming thickly settled and the people wanted the 
lands of the eastern Indians. 

Soon after the Louisiana purchase was made people 
began to talk of an Indian reserve, of a state set aside 
Removal of ^ or ^ ne Indians, and it was believed that 

eastern Indians these western prairies would be useful 
for such a purpose. Nothing definite was 
done, however, until 1825, when the National Govern- 
ment began the "removal policy." The eastern part of 
Kansas was occupied by two tribes of Indians, the 
Kanzas, or Kaws as they are often called, north of 
the Kansas River, and the Osages south of it. In 1825 
the National Government made treaties with these two 
tribes. Under the provisions of these treaties each tribe 
retained only a small part of its territory, the rest being 
ceded to the Government. In return, the Indians were to 
receive certain annual payments and were to be sup- 

(46) 



KANSAS AS AN INDIAN COUNTRY 



47 



plied with cattle, hogs, and 
farming implements. The Gov- 
ernment was also to pro- 
vide them with blacksmiths and 
with teachers of agriculture. 
With these two tribes restricted 
to their reservations, a large 
part of eastern Kansas was 
left to be apportioned into res- 
ervations for Indians from the 
East. In 1830 Congress passed 
an act setting aside an Indian 
country, which included east- 
ern Kansas. Then the remov- 
al policy was carried out. Under this arrangement the 
Government made treaties with the various eastern 
tribes by which they gave up their lands in exchange for 
certain tracts in the Indian country. The Shawnees 




An Indian in War Dress. 



OrOES AND Mi550uRi5 




Indian Reservations in Kanz-s. 



48 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

had come in 1825, and during the ten or twelve years fol- 
lowing 1830 about seventeen tribes were located on res- 
ervations in Kansas. Among these were the Iowas, Sacs 
and Foxes, Kickapoos, Delawares, Chippewas, Pottawa- 
tomies, Wyandottes, and Miamis. By 1850 there was 
not a tribe left east of the Mississippi River. The Indians 
had all been moved to these western plains, and no white 
man could settle on any of the reservations without 
the consent of the Indians. 

According to the treaties the Indians were promised 
their land ''so long as grass should grow or water run." 
But it soon developed that the white men 
fr n o d m a K S an e sTs OVed wanted Kansas also. In 1854 we find the 
tribes being again transferred, this time 
to the Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, where the rem- 
nants of the various tribes still remain. 1 

Although Kansas was not used during those early years 
to make homes for white settlers, a few hundred people 
came here. They were of three different classes ; fur 
traders, missionaries, and soldiers. 

It is impossible to say when the first hunters and 

trappers came to these western plains, for they were gen- 

_, , , erally obscure men and little was known 
The fur traders f . . . 

oi their comings and goings, but they 

were the real pathfinders of the West. There are rec- 
ords of fur traders here in the very early years of the 
nineteenth century, and they gradually went farther and 
farther into the vast wilderness. The streams of travel 
across Kansas in the '40's followed paths that had been 
pointed out by the fur traders. 

1. The fact that Kansas was once an Indian country is shown 
by the many Indian names of counties, towns, and streams; as, 
Topeka, Pottawatomie, Hiawatha, Wyandotte, Shawnee, Chey- 
enne, Cherokee, and Kiowa. 



KANSAS AS AN INDIAN COUNTRY 



49 



The fur companies established many trading posts, 
which served as forts for protection against the Indians 

and as places to 
which hunters and 
trappers could 
bring their furs. 
Some of the hunt- 
ers and trappers 
were employed by 
the fur companies 
and others worked 
independently. 

Many Indians 
also engaged in 
this trade, and 
often they were 
given tobacco, 
whisky, and weap- 
ons in exchange for 

their furs. In this 
The Indian tepee, made of poles and buffalo mil „i. n f ^p 

hides, was the only home of the wander- wa ^ mucn 0I ine 
ing tribes, and was used by the other work of the mis- 
tribes when on hunting trips. sionaries was un- 

done. In the earlier years the hunters and trappers 
found many kinds of wild animals in Kansas: the buffalo, 
the wolf, the fox, the deer, the elk, and the antelope, and 
along the streams the beaver, the otter, the mink, and 
the muskrat. Later, the main supply of furs came from 
the mountains, and the whole fur trade gradually moved 
west of what is now Kansas. 

The attempt to civilize the Indian began in the days 
of the early explorers, and it was on Kansas soil that the 
first missionary's life was lost in the cause. This man was 
Father Padilla, a Jesuit, who came with Coronado on his 




50 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

journey to Quivira. Father Padilla became much inter- 
Father Padilla, es ted in the Quivira Indians and remained 
the first mission- to do missionary work among them. His 
preaching was of short duration, however, 
for he was soon killed, whether by the Quiviras or some 
other tribe is not known. 

Centuries later, when Kansas became a part of the 
United States and was explored and traversed by white 
Kansas mission- men > missionaries were among the first 
aries of the nine- to arrive. They came to instruct the 
teenth century Indians in the Christian religion and to 

persuade them to adopt the customs of civilization. 

Of the many who came, Rev. Isaac McCoy probably 
deserves first mention. He had spent many years in 
work among the Indians and strongly urged the removal 
policy. He believed that if they could live in a separate 
state, free from contact with the white race, the Indians 
could be civilized, and he gave his life to this work. 

Jotham Meeker and his wife were among the most 
devoted of the missionaries, but there were many others, 
both men and women, who placed the welfare of human 
beings above mere gain and who endured the hardships 
of life among the savages for the sake of the good they 
might do. 

As soon as the eastern Indians were removed to Kan- 
sas a number of missions were established by Baptist, 
Methodist, Presbyterian, Friends, and 
e^tabHshed Catholic churches. The work of the mis- 

sionaries was not confined to religious in- 
struction. Schools were established, 1 books were printed, 

1. Among the schools established by the missions three have con- 
tinued in existence and have developed into important schools 
of to-day: Highland College, established by the Presbyterians; 
St. Mary's College, by the Catholics; and Ottawa University, by 
the Baptists. 



KANSAS AS AN INDIAN COUNTRY 51 

the Indian girls were taught cooking and sewing, and the 
boys were taught farming and such trades as black- 
smithing and carpentering. 

The most noted mission in Kansas was the one 




Shawnee Mission as first built in 1830. # In 1839 a new location was 
selected and fine new buildings constructed. 

established by the Methodist Church for the Shawnee 
Indians near the present site of Kansas City. This 
mission was opened in 1830 and continued its work for 
more than a quarter of a century. It had a large tract of 
land and good buildings, and maintained a successful 
school. Rev. Thomas Johnson, who took a prominent 
part in early Kansas affairs, was in charge of the mission. 
The third class of people who came to early Kansas 
was the soldiers. Their presence was necessary for the 
Th ... protection of the few white people against 

the Indians. Fort Leavenworth was 



52 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




The Camp of Instruction held each year at Fort Riley on that part 
of the reservation known as Pawnee Flats. Near the center of 
the view is the old Pawnee Capitol. 




Pontoon Bridge at Fort Riley. 



KANSAS AS AN INDIAN COUNTRY 53 



Above is the Old Wall at Fort Leavenworth. This wall is all that 
remains of the original Fort. The lower picture is of the Main 
Parade at Fort Leavenworth at the present time. 

established by the National Government in 1827, as 
headquarters for the troops. This was shortly after the 
beginning of the Santa Fe trade. During the '40 's this 
fort was used as a base of supplies for the soldiers of the 
Mexican War, and as an outfitting point for many of the 
California gold seekers and Mormon emigrants. Fort 
Leavenworth is to-day one of the most important of the 



54 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

national forts. A number of other forts were established, 
among them Fort Riley, Fort Dodge, Fort Scott, and 
Fort Hays, but all of these have been abandoned ex- 
cept Fort Riley. 

Kansas remained in possession of the Indians until 
1854, when it was organized into a territory. With this 
Population of date a new era began. At this time the 
pre-territorial white population consisted of about twelve 
hundred people, one half of them soldiers 
and the other half connected with the trading posts and 
the missions. 

SUMMARY 

When the country that is now Kansas became a part of 
the United States it was occupied by four tribes of Indians. 
In 1825 the Kanza and Osage tribes ceded a large part 
of their lands to the Government and the eastern quarter 
of the State was made a part of the Indian country by the 
Act of 1830. Following this a number of eastern tribes 
were removed to reservations in Kansas, where they 
remained until Kansas was organized as a territory, in 
1854, when they were moved to Indian Territory, now 
Oklahoma. During these years there was much travel 
through the State, but up to 1854 the white population 
numbered only about twelve hundred. These people 
were of three classes; traders, missionaries, and soldiers. 

REFERENCES 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 50-64. 

Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 58-74. 

Gihon, Geary and Kansas, chap. II. 

Inman, The Old Santa Fe Trail. 

Elson, History of the United States, chap. II. 

Kansas Historical Collections, vol. VIII, pp. 72, 171, 206, 250; 
vol. IX, p. 565; vol. X, p. 327; vol. XI, p. 333; vol. XII, pp. 65, 183; 
vol. ix, p. 153. 

Holloway, History of Kansas, chap. vm. 

Blackmar, Kansas, vol. I, pp. 655-703; vol. II, p. 291. 



KANSAS AS AN INDIAN COUNTRY 55 

QUESTIONS 

1. What use did the white people make of Kansas during the 
first half of the nineteenth century? 

2. How did the condition of the Indians here differ from that of 
the Indians in the East? 

3. What was the removal policy? Name some of the Indian 
tribes brought here. What promise was made them? 

4. Name the three classes of white people who came to Kansas 
during this period. 

5. Who was Father Padilla? Name some of the missionaries. 
What work did they do? 

6. Tell of the fur traders and their relations with the Indians. 

7. Why were the soldiers here? 

8. When did Kansas cease to be an Indian country? 



CHAPTER VI 
KANSAS ORGANIZED AS A TERRITORY 

The year 1854 is an important one in the history of 
Kansas, for it brings to a close the period during which 
The year 1854 this re gi° n was us ^d as a hunting ground 
an important by the Indians and marks the beginning 
of its use as a home for white people. 
The white settlers did not come in peace and quiet; the 
first dozen years following 1854 were filled with hatred, 
struggle, and bloodshed. This was brought about by 
conditions outside of Kansas. As we have seen, twenty- 
five years earlier Kansas was made an Indian territory 
because people in the states wanted the lands of the 
eastern Indians. In 1854 a terrible conflict began here 
because there was a division between the North and 
the South on the question of slavery. 

Slavery had existed in the United States since very 
early colonial days. It had not been profitable in the 
Attitude of the northern states, but in the cotton fields of 
North and South the southern plantations slave labor was 
toward slavery ^ demand> and itg uge after ^ mven _ 

tion of the cotton gin had increased steadily with the 
passing years. The Northerners had long been opposed 
to slavery and made every effort to keep it from spread- 
ing into northern and western territory, while the South- 
erners were just as determined that it should flourish 
and that it should be extended into new territory. This 
difference between the North and the South developed 
great bitterness. Neither side lost any opportunity to 
take advantage of the other, and each was anxious to 

(57) 



58 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

secure a majority in the Senate in order to obtain favor- 
able legislation. This matter was so carefully watched 
that it had long been the custom to keep the "balance of 
power" between the states; that is, to admit free and 
slave states alternately so as to keep the number of pro- 
slavery and free-state senators balanced. The North, 
because of its more rapid growth in population, had long 
had a majority in the House. 

Missouri was along the dividing line between the North 
and the South, and when it asked to be admitted to 
The Missouri the Union there followed a long debate 
Compromise, in Congress as to whether it should come 

18 9 • 

in slave or free. The question was finally 
settled by the Missouri Compromise, which provided that 
Missouri might come in as a slave state but that all the 
rest of the territory included in the Louisiana Purchase 
and lying north of 36° 30', the line forming the south- 
ern boundary of Missouri, should be forever free. In 
other words, slavery was to be forever excluded from 
Kansas and the territory lying north of it. 

This was in 1820, about the time of the beginning of 
the Santa Fe trade. During the years when Kansas was 
Slavery trouble an Indian country and was traversed 
brings on the by countless caravans the country re- 
mained bound by the terms of this com- 
promise. But all this time the feeling of animosity 
between the North and the South was growing more 
intense; northern churches and newspapers denounced 
the evils of slavery, free-state and abolition parties 
developed, thousands of slaves were assisted in making 
their escape through the North to Canada in spite of the 
strict fugitive slave law, and there was bitter strife in 
Congress between the free-state and the slave-state mem- 
bers. The relations between the North and the South 



KANSAS ORGANIZED AS A TERRITORY 59 

were becoming more and more strained. The time was 
rapidly approaching when the differences between the two 
sections were to be settled by a great war. 

The Civil War began in 1861, the same year in which 
Kansas became a state; but seven years earlier, in 1854, 
The conflict Congress had passed a measure that 

brought into brought the slavery trouble into Kansas 

Kansas in 1854 &nd made thig gtate the battle ground in 

the great national struggle over the slavery question. 

The measure passed by Congress that played such an 
important part in the history of Kansas and of the Nation 
The Kansas- was known as the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 
Nebraska Bill, and was the work of Senator Stephen A. 
1854 Douglas, of Illinois. It provided that the 

two territories, Kansas and Nebraska, should be organ- 
ized, and that the question of slavery should be left for 
the people of each territory to decide for themselves. This 
method of settling the question was known as "popular 
sovereignty." Because the settlers were often called 
squatters it was frequently called "squatter sovereignty." 

Kansas and Nebraska were part of the territory which, 

according to the terms of the Missouri Compromise, was 

to be forever free, but under the Douglas 

the C B P ill° n ° f Bil1 the y were t0 become either slave or 

free as the people who settled the terri- 
tories might decide. When this Bill was introduced into 
Congress it raised a storm of indignation among those 
opposed to slavery, and the debate which ensued lasted 
for months. The whole North was aroused and poured 
forth objection and protest, but to no avail. The Bill 
was passed May 30, 1854. 

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill meant that the Missouri 
Compromise had been repealed and that there was no 
longer any boundary line against slavery. It meant 



60 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

that Kansas and Nebraska were offered as prizes to be 
contended for by the free and the slave 
Bi e jj U ° e states. The South said, "You may have 
Nebraska; Kansas is ours." The North 
refused to recognize such a division of spoils and in- 
sisted that both territories had been carved from free 
soil and should both come into the Union free. Both North 
and South desired to secure Kansas, and each side urged 
that as many as possible of its own people should emi- 
grate to the new Territory. It could scarcely be expected 
that, under such circumstances, Kansas would be left 
for gradual and peaceful settlement. The result was 
that the scene of strife was transferred from Congress 
to these western prairies, and from that time until the 
admission of the Territory as a state the conflict be- 
tween the forces of freedom and slavery was waged here. 
It must be remembered that at this time Kansas was 
an Indian country; that many of the eastern tribes had 
Indians removed & iven U P their lands in exchange for 
from Kansas lands here which had been promised to 
them forever. Nevertheless, the Indians 
were removed from Kansas, many of them at once and 
others more leisurely. They were taken to what has 
since become Oklahoma, where many of them still live. 
In this way room was made for the white settlers to 
enter Kansas. 

SUMMARY 

For many years there had been bitter feeling between 
the North and the South on the slavery question. In 1820 
the Missouri Compromise was passed. This measure pro- 
vided that all the Louisiana Purchase lying north of the 
southern boundary of Missouri, except Missouri itself, 
should be forever free. This agreement was observed 
until the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill in 1854. 



KANSAS ORGANIZED AS A TERRITORY 61 

This bill provided that the settlers of each of these terri- 
tories should decide whether it was to be made slave or 
free. Each side was determined to win Kansas, and as a 
result the slavery struggle was brought here. In order 
to make room for settlers the Indians were moved to 
Indian Territory, now known as Oklahoma. 

REFERENCES 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 63-73. 
Spring, Kansas, pp. 2-16. 
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 81-82. 
Holloway, History of Kansas, chap. VI. 
Tuttle, History of Kansas. 
Larned, History for Ready Reference. 
Gihon, Geary in Kansas, chap. III. 
Historical Collections, vol. ix, p. 115; vol. VIII, p. 86. 
Foster, A History of the United States, pp. 325-329. 
Muzzey, American History, 379-412. 

Hodder, Genesis of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, in Proceedings of 
the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1912, pp. 69-86. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Why is 1854 an important date in Kansas history? 

2. What great national question affected Kansas at that time? 
Explain. 

3. Explain the attitude of the North and the South toward 
slavery. 

4. What was meant by the "balance of power"? 

5. Give the provisions and the date of the Missouri Compromise. 
How did this Compromise affect Kansas? 

6. What did the Kansas-Nebraska Bill provide? Give the atti- 
tude of the North and the South toward it. 

7. How did this Bill affect the Missouri Compromise? What was 
the result in Kansas? 

8. What was done with the Indians in Kansas? 



62 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



THE SONG OF THE KANSAS EMIGRANT. 

We cross the prairies as of old 

The Pilgrims crossed the sea, 
To make the West as they the East 

The homestead of the free. 

Chorus: 

The homestead of the free, my boys, 
The homestead of the free, 
To make the West as they the East 
The homestead of the free. 

W T e go to rear a wall of men 

On Freedom's southern line 
And plant beside the cotton tree 

The rugged northern pine. 

We 're flowing from our native hills, 

As our free rivers flow; 
The blessings of our mother-land 

Is on us as we go. 

We go to plant her common schools 

On distant prairie swells, 
And give the Sabbaths of the wild 

The music of her bells. 

Upbearing like the ark of old, 

The Bible in her van, 
We go to test the truth of God 

Against the fraud of man. 

No pause, nor rest, save where the streams 

That feed the Kansas run, 
Save where our pilgrim gonfalon 

Shall flout the setting sun. 

We '11 tread the prairies as of old 

Our fathers sailed the sea; 
And make the West as they the East 

The homestead of the free. 

— John G. Whittier. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS 

Kansas in 1854 was, to most people, only a name, a part 
of the great desert in the Far West, an Indian country. 
Many of those who had crossed it in the 
KwiLs"™^! California emigration had been impressed 
with the beauty and richness of the 
country and had written back glowing accounts of it. 
Some of them had returned from the coast, and were now 
numbered among our early settlers. When its organi- 
zation as a territory brought it into such prominence, 
knowledge of Kansas soon became more general. 

The people of the South felt confident that they could 
make it a slave state, for they had gained many victories 
in Congress, and the President, Franklin 
of the* South Pierce, was in sympathy with them. More- 
over, they were closer to Kansas than were 
the northern people, and the only state touching Kansas 
was the slave state, Missouri. 

The people of the North, however, possessed one very 
important advantage. The population of the South con- 
sisted largely of plantation owners and 
of theNorfh their slaves, and it was not an easy matter 
for these men to leave their property or to 
take it into a new and untried country. On the other 
hand, the North was a land of small farms and shops and 
many laborers. Moreover, there was much foreign im- 
migration into the United States in those years, and since 

(63) 



64 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

the employment of slaves left no place in the South for 
white laborers, most of the immigrants entered the north- 
ern states, and added to the number of those who were 
ready and anxious to go farther west. Consequently many 
more settlers came into Kansas from the North than from 
the South, but the Southerners tried to overcome this 
handicap in other ways. 

The plan of the South was to use Missouri as the step- 
ping-stone to Kansas. Immediately following the passage 

of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill a number of 
the 6 Missoiirians Missourians came over into Kansas *md 

took as claims large tracts of the best 
lands, in some cases not even waiting for the removal of 
the Indians. Settlers who asked for claims were required 
to build houses and to use the land for homes for a certain 
length of time. While some of the Missourians met these 
requirements, many of them did not come here to live. 
They notched trees, or posted notices, or laid rails on the 
ground in the shape of a house, or in some other way 
indicated their claims, and returned to their homes in 
Missouri, coming back only to vote or to fight when it 
seemed to them necessary. While in Kansas, however, 
they held a meeting at which it was resolved that: "We 
recognize slavery as always existing in this Territory," 
and, "We will afford protection to no abolitionists as 
settlers of Kansas Territory." 

The free-state people could not step over a boundary 
line and be in Kansas. They lived a long way off, the trip 
Handicap to ou ^ nere was expensive, and little was 
northern known of the new Territory. It was a land 

without homes or towns, churches, schools, 
or newspapers, and the Northerners knew that people 
would hesitate to start to Kansas under all these diffi- 
culties. 



THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS 65 

So it came about that even while the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill was pending in Congress a Massachusetts man named 
The New Eng- ^li Thayer had thought out a plan for 
land Emigrant assisting and encouraging the people to 
i ompany undertake the long journey. His plan was 
to form a company for the purpose of inducing and or- 
ganizing emigration to Kansas and reducing the expense 
and hardship involved. This was not to be done as 
charity, but was to be put on a business basis. Thayer 
aroused public interest in his plan by constant writing 
and speaking, and since the people were ready to listen to 
whatever promised to aid in making Kansas a free state, 
money enough was soon raised to organize a company, 
called the New England Emigrant Aid Company. It 
gathered and published information concerning the new 
country and organized emigrants into large parties in 
order to make the journey more pleasant, to reduce ex- 
pense, and to lessen danger. Competent guides were sent 
with the parties. The company established schools, news- 
papers, mills, hotels, and other improvements that tended 
to lessen the hardships of the pioneers and to further the 
development of the new Territory. Several similar or- 
ganizations were formed, but none of them was so well 
known nor so efficient as the New England Emigrant Aid 
Company. 

Hundreds of people came here under the management 
of these companies, but probably the greatest service the 
Work of the companies performed was that of giving an 

emigrant aid immense amount of publicity and adver- 
compames tising to Kansas. Newspapers were filled 

with descriptions of the loveliness, the fertility, and the 
future greatness of the new Territory, and people were 
urged to go to Kansas at once, both to secure the advan- 
tages of the country and to help in saving it from slavery. 



66 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

In this way interest and enthusiasm were aroused over 
the whole North, but for every one who came in one of 
the emigrant aid parties there were many who came inde- 
pendently, especially from the states farther west than 
New England — Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and 
Iowa. 

The organizations in the North aroused much bitter 

feeling in the South, and a reward was offered for the 

capture of Eli Thayer. The South soon 

organizations formed organizations too, some of them 

being known as Blue Lodges, Social Bands, 

and Sons of the South. 

As has been stated, the Missourians came into Kansas 
immediately after the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill 
The coming of on ^- a y 30, but the free-state people 
the free-state were not far behind, for on the first day of 
August, just two months later, the first 
party of emigrants sent out by the New England Emi- 
grant Aid Company reached the Territory. Even these 
were not the first free-state men to arrive; a few who had 
come independent^ were already here. 

This first party consisted of only twenty-nine men. 
It had been organized with some difficulty, for coming to 
Kansas was looked upon as a dangerous 
of sett F lers Party undertaking. Hundreds of people gathered 
to bid these men farewell as they started 
on their long journey to take part in the great conflict 
between freedom and slavery. There were many who 
would not have been surprised had the whole party been 
murdered on their arrival in Kansas, but when nothing 
of the kind happened others took courage and more par- 
ties soon followed. 

The pioneer party reached St. Louis by railroad, where 



THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS 67 

they boarded a steamboat and came up the Missouri River 
They reach the to Kansas City, then a town of only three 
present site of or four hundred people. There they pur- 
.awrence chased an ox team to transport their bag- 

gage, and on a Saturday evening set out on foot into 
Kansas. By Tuesday noon they reached the present site 
of Lawrence, where they pitched their tents on a big 
flat-topped hill. To-day the great buildings of the Uni- 
versity of Kansas stand on this hill, which is still called 
Mount Oread, 1 the name given it by this first party of 
pioneers. The weather was extremely hot; a drouth 
had parched the earth and prairie fires had destroyed the 
grass, but the pioneers were not discouraged. They staked 
out claims in the surrounding country and began prepara- 
tions for the future. 

In a short time the second party arrived. It was under 

the direction of Dr. Charles Robinson and Samuel C. 

Pomeroy, who were leaders in the free- 

party S arrWes state cause durin S the whole Territorial 
struggle. This party was much larger, 
and part of its members were women and children. The 
town was now laid out, organized, and named Lawrence. 2 
On the arrival of this party a boarding house was estab- 
lished by two of the women. It was thus described by a 
writer of that time: " In the open air, on some logs of wood, 
two rough boards were laid across for a table, and on wash- 
tubs, kegs, and blocks the boarders were seated around it." 
A short time later a hotel was opened. It was constructed 
by driving into the ground two long rows of poles, which 
were brought together at the top and the sides thatched 

1. Named after Mount Oread Seminary at Worcester, Mass., of 
which Eli Thayer was the founder and proprietor. 

2. Named in honor of Amos A. Lawrence, of Boston, an active 
member of the Emigrant Aid Company. 




o 



THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS 6S 

with prairie grass. The ends were made of cotton cloth, 
and the building resembled the ''stray roof of a huge ware- 
house." 

The people lived in tents and houses of thatch through 
the summer and fall, but in the meantime all were busy 
Getting ready g ettin S lo S cabins ready for the winter, 
for the first By the time winter had come a number of 

wmter things had been accomplished: a sawmill 

was running, churches had been organized, two newspapers 
had been established, and Lawrence had been granted a 
post office with mail from Kansas City three times a 
week. The population was about four hundred. Many 
of the cabins still had cloth doors and were without 
floors, and altogether the people had all they could do to 
take care of themselves through the winter. When 
two more parties of emigrants arrived at the beginning 
of winter the task became much more difficult. 

Besides the work of building homes and developing the 
town, there was much to occupy the minds of the pioneers. 
The Actual Missourians had taken claims over much 

Settlers' of the eastern part of the Territory. 

Association While some proslavery settlers had come 

to make homes, just as the free-state settlers had, most of 
those who had taken claims were really living in Missouri. 
When the first party came to Lawrence, the members 
bought out the claims where they located their town; 
later other claimants appeared, and there was much 
trouble over the title to the land. The same kind of 
trouble arose in regard to the land taken by many free- 
state settlers outside of Lawrence. It became a common 
occurrence for a Missourian to come over and lay claim to 
some free-state man's land and warn him to leave the Ter- 
ritory. This caused the formation of the Actual Settlers' 
Association, which helped to adjust such difficulties. 



70 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Lawrence was not the only place in the Territory that 
was settled before the close of the first winter. People 
were coming in from north, east, and 
south, settling on claims and starting other 
towns. The principal proslavery towns were Leaven- 
worth, Atchison, and Lecompton. Free-state towns were 



The first house in Topeka. 

Lawrence, Topeka, Osawatomie, and Manhattan. Leaven- 
worth and Atchison were both founded by people from 
Missouri, and, since they were on the Missouri River, came 
to be outfitting points for travelers over the California 
and Salt Lake Trails. Lecompton, on the Kansas River, 
not far from Lawrence, soon became the headquarters of 
the proslavery people, and for several years was the Terri- 
torial capital. Topeka was founded with the hope of 
its becoming the capital of Kansas. Osawatomie soon 
became an important free-state center. Manhattan, on 



THE COMING OF THE SETTLERS 71 

the Kansas River at the mouth of the Big Blue, was for 
the first few months called Boston. On the arrival of a 
party of seventy-five people from Cincinnati, Ohio, the 
name was changed to Manhattan. This party made the 
entire trip from Cincinnati to Manhattan by boat. 

SUMMARY 

When Kansas Territory was organized little was known 
of it, but, because it was wanted by both the North and the 
South, knowledge of Kansas spread rapidly. The South 
had the support of every branch of the National Govern- 
ment and the added advantage that the only state touch- 
ing Kansas was proslavery. The advantage of the North 
lay in the fact that it had a much larger number of people 
who were free to move to a new country. The proslavery 
Missourians came in at once and took claims. A few free- 
state people came within a month, and in two months 
the emigrant aid parties began to arrive. The fact that 
many Missourians had staked out claims and gone back 
home led to numerous claim disputes and caused the 
organization of the Actual Settlers' Association. By the 
time winter had come four emigrant aid parties had ar- 
rived at Lawrence, many settlers were living on their 
claims, and several towns had been started by each side. 

REFERENCES 

Spring, Kansas, pp. 29-40. 

Brooks, The Boy Settlers. 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 71-78. 

Thayer, The Kansas Crusade. 

Robinson, The Kansas Conflict, chaps, ii-iv. 

Mrs. Robinson, Kansas — Its Interior and Exterior Life. 

Gihon, Geary and Kansas, chap. iv. 

Historical Collections, vol. VI, p. 90; vol. IX, p. 144. 

QUESTIONS 

1. When was Kansas organized as a territory? In what ways 
had the people gained any knowledge of Kansas up to this time? 
Why did Kansas soon become well known? 



72 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

2. What advantages did the South have in the effort to win 
Kansas? The North? 

3. Contrast the manner of life in the North and the South in 
those days. What do you know of the conditions to-day? 

4. Why did Missouri play an important part in early Kansas 
affairs? Explain how Missourians took claims. 

5. Why did the North organize emigrant aid companies? What 
was the chief company? What did it do? Did all the Kansas set- 
tlers come under the management of these companies? 

6. What was the attitude of the South toward these organiza- 
tions? 

7. When did the first emigrant aid party arrive? Tell of their 
journey; their settlement. Were they the first free-state settlers to 
arrive? 

8. Give an account of the second party. Tell something of the 
way they lived. What had been accomplished by the time winter 
set in? 

9. What was the Actual Settlers' Association? Why was it 
formed? 

10. Name several persons connected with this period of Kansas 
history, and tell something of each. 

11. Name and locate some of the towns settled during this period. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE FIRST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 

When a territory is organized it must be provided with 

a government. The people in a territory may not elect 

their officers as in a state; they may elect 

It I fe°r V rrt r o n ry ent a le g islature and a delegate to Congress, 
but the governor, secretary, judges, and 
certain other officers are appointed by the President. 

In October, 1854, there arrived in Kansas the first Ter- 
ritorial Governor, Andrew H. Reeder, who, although he was 
known to favor slavery, was heartily wel- 

t T ori e al fi G S iv T erno; comed b y a11 the P eo P le - That he might 

become familiar with conditions in the 

Territory, Governor Reeder made a tour of inspection 

shortly after his arrival. Although this was but little 

more than four months after the opening of the Territory, 

he found a number of settlements scattered over eastern 

Kansas. Towns were springing up, and the prairies were 

dotted with the tents and cabins of the pioneers. Several 

thousand people had arrived by this time, some of them 

free-state and some proslavery. The proslavery settlers 

had brought a few slaves. There were also many Indians 

here, for only a part of the tribes had as yet been removed. 

On his return from his tour of observation, which had 

included the most remote settlements, as far west as 

Council Grove and Fort Riley, Governor 

electfoifcalled Reeder issued a proclamation for the first 

election to be held in Kansas. The date 

(73) 



74 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

was set for November 29, at which time a delegate to 
Congress was to be chosen. 

The settlers were all busily engaged in building cabins 
and otherwise providing for the coming of winter, and 
since this election was not deemed of much 
Selection importance they took little interest in it. 

This was not the case, however, with the 
Missourians, and at this first election, under the leadership 
of their Senator, D. R. Atchison, they gave an exhibition of 
the methods by which they expected to control Kansas. 

On the day before election the Blue Lodge voters began 
to cross the border into Kansas. They came well armed, 
Election day, anc * organized into companies, each of 
November which went to a polling place. They came 

29, 1854 £ Q vo ^ an( j thgy voted. There were so 

many of them that they were able to outnumber the legal 
voters in many of the precincts where they took possession 
of the polls. Election judges who refused to accept their 
votes were removed and judges of their own installed. 1 

Of course the proslavery delegate was overwhelmingly 
elected. He would probably have been elected had the 
Missourians stayed at home, for up to this 
time a majority of the settlers outside of 
Lawrence favored slavery. The result of this unfair 
election was to renew the excitement in the North at such 
a working out of the principle of "popular sovereign ty." 
But the free-state pioneers were not to be discouraged. 
They continued, during the winter, their home building, 
their preparations for the spring cultivation, and the 
securing of titles to their land. 

1. It should be borne in mind that many of the Missourians 
who took such an active part in Kansas affairs were not repre- 
sentative citizens of that state, but were of the unprincipled and 
outlaw classes. Many of them were hired for this work. 



THE FIRST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 75 

The first event of importance in the new year was the 
taking of the census of the Territory in the spring. It 
The second showed a total population of 8601, about 

election, 3000 of whom were voters. A little later 

March 30, 1855 a date wag get for the election of a Ter- 
ritorial Legislature. Since this body of men would make 
the laws for the Territory, there was no lack of interest 
among the settlers in this election. It was well under- 
stood that the Missourians were expecting to vote again. 
Money was being raised and men hired to march into 
Kansas on election day. They came, fully five thousand of 
them, armed with pistols, guns, and bowie-knives, and 
marched to the different polling places. They did not 
pretend to be residents of Kansas, but boasted that they 
were from Missouri. They were disorderly and danger- 
ous, and in many cases drove the legal voters from the 
polls. Not more than half of the 3000 rightful voters 
cast ballots in this election, but the count showed that 
more than 6000 ballots were cast. 

The whole thing had been so openly fraudulent that the 
free-state people demanded that the Governor set aside 
this election and call a new one. The 
Legislature " Missourians threatened his life if this were 
done. When the day came for deciding 
the question, the men who had been fraudulently elected 
gathered in the Governor's office, armed and defiant. The 
Governor and a number of his friends who were there to 
protect him were also armed. Bitter discussion ensued, but 
there was no fighting. Contests had not been filed against 
all of the men elected. Governor Reeder decided to recog- 
nize the election except where sufficient proof of fraud was 
shown. In these cases he threw out the returns and ordered 
another election. The proslavery men took no part in the 
new election, and a number of free-state men were chosen to 



76 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

the Legislature. When the Legislature met, the proslavery 
majority promptly unseated these free-state members and 
recognized the men first elected. This gave the Territory 
an entirely proslavery legislature. It was called by the 
free-state people the " Bogus Legislature." The proslavery 
leaders were B. F. Stringfellow and D. R. Atchison, both 
of whom lived in Missouri but took an active part in 
Kansas affairs. Senator Atchison said, " We wish to make 
Kansas in all respects like Missouri/ ' So they adopted the 
whole body of Missouri laws, and added a series of slave 
laws that were probably the most severe of any ever en- 
acted in the United States. 

The Governor chose Pawnee as the place where the 
Legislature should meet. Pawnee was a new town on the 
The first Legisla- Kansas River, within the present bounds of 
ture, at Pawnee, the Fort Riley military reservation. Since 
it was west of nearly all the settlements, the 
members had to make long journeys to reach it. Both 
because of the inconvenience of location and because 
the proslavery members desired to be nearer the Missouri 
border, the Legislature remained in session at Pawnee 
only five days, just long enough to unseat the free-state 
members and to pass an act removing the seat of gov- 
ernment temporarily to Shawnee Mission. All that 
remains of Pawnee to-day is the old stone building that 
was erected for a capitol. 

Governor Reeder had refused to accede to all the de- 
mands of the proslavery people, and had fallen into dis- 
The removal favor with them. When he refused to 
of Governor sign some of their measures they peti- 

tioned the President for his removal, which 
soon followed. Governor Reeder's administration had 
lasted through less than a year of these troublous times. 
In the summer of 1855, with the Territory little more 



. THE FIRST TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT 77 

than a year old, the people were divided into two bitter 
factions, proslavery and free-state, with the proslavery 
people congratulating themselves upon being rid of a 
Governor they could not control, upon having the sup- 
port of the President, and upon having a Legislature 
unanimously proslavery. Daniel Woodson, the Territorial 
Secretary, who now became Acting Governor, approved the 
acts of the proslavery Legislature. 

These were dark days for the free-state people; they 
had no hand in the Government and no recognition in 

Gloomy outlook the laws of the Territory. They were 
for the free- denounced, misrepresented, and ridiculed. 

state people Tq add to the gloom of the situat ion, the 

new Territorial Governor, Wilson Shannon, at first en- 
tirely ignored the existence of free-state citizens. No com- 
munity could obey the slave laws passed by the "Bogus 
Legislature" without becoming proslavery. But the free- 
state people had no intention of becoming proslavery; 
they had no intention of giving up the struggle. They 
found themselves confronted with the question of what 
was to be done. It was a very grave situation. 

SUMMARY 

The first Territorial Governor, Andrew H. Reeder, ar- 
rived in October, 1854. After a tour of inspection, he 
called an election to choose a Territorial delegate to Con- 
gress. Although there were probably enough proslavery 
settlers to carry the election, the Missourians, to make 
sure, came over in force, and elected their candidate with 
an overwhelming majority. Another election was called 
in March to choose members of a Territorial Legislature. 
The Missourians came again, and although the census had 
shown but 3000 voters in Kansas there were twice that 
number of ballots cast. On proof of fraud Governor 
Reeder threw out the contested returns and free-state men 
were elected, but when the Legislature met the proslavery 



78 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

majority unseated them and recognized those first elected. 
Pawnee was chosen by the Governor as the Territorial 
capital, but after five days the Legislature adjourned to 
Shawnee Mission. The measures passed were entirely in 
the interests of slavery. Although Governor Reeder came 
to Kansas favoring slavery, he did not approve of the 
methods of the proslavery people. He was removed in 
July, 1855. He was replaced by Wilson Shannon, who 
was in full sympathy with slavery interests. Every con- 
dition was unfavorable to the free-state people at this time. 

REFERENCES 

Spring, Kansas, chap. IV. 

Robinson, The Kansas Conflict, chaps. VI, vn. 
Holloway, History of Kansas, chaps, xii, XIII, XVII. 
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 87-101. 
Connelley, Kansas Territorial Governo. 3. 

Historical Collections, vol. V, p. 163; vol. VII, p. 361; vol. vm, 
p. 227. 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 7r-87. 
Hodder, Government of Kansas, pp. 5-13. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How is a territory governod? 

2. Who was the first Territorial Governor of Kansas? How 
long did he serve? What was his attitude toward slavery? 

3. What were the conditions in Kansas when the first Governor 
arrived? How far west did settlements reach at that time? 

4. When was the first election held? What was its purpose? 
Give an account of it. 

5. When was the first census taken and what did it show? 

6. What was the purpose of the second election? Give an 
account of it. 

7. Why was the "Bogus Legislature" so called? Where did it 
meet? What did it do? 

8. Who were some of the proslavery leaders? 

9. Why were these "dark days" for the free-state people? 

10. Who was the new Territorial Governor? With which side 
did he sympathize? 



CHAPTER IX 



The free- 
state plan 



Free-state 
leaders 



RIVAL GOVERNMENTS IN KANSAS 

The free-state people decided to ignore the proslavery 
government, and since they were really made outlaws 
by the "Bogus Legislature" they organ- 
ized another government and sought the 
admission of Kansas as a state. To ac- 
complish this it was necessary to draw up a state consti- 
tution, which must be approved by the people of the 
Territory and by Congress. 

A number of meetings were held for the purpose of get- 
ting the free-state people interested and willing to work 
together. The 
leaders in these 
efforts were Dr. 
Charles Robinson, of Lawrence, 
ex-Governor Reeder, who had 
come back to Kansas as a tire- 
less worker in the free-state 
cause, and James H. Lane, a 
man of much experience who 
had recently come to Kansas. 
Lane became one of the most 
radical of free-state men and 
played an important part in 
Kansas affairs for many years. 

In the fall of 1855 a convention was held at Topeka, and 
a state constitution which said, "There shall be no slavery 
in this State/' was drawn up. When a little later the 




James H. Lane. 



(79) 



80 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Topeka Constitution was submitted to a vote of the 
The Topeka people it carried by an immense majority. 

Constitution, Only free-state people voted, of course, for 

the proslavery people did not recognize 
any of these acts as having any force. Later in the 
winter state officers were elected under the Constitu- 
tion, Dr. Charles Robinsoa being made Governor and 
James H. Lane a United States Senator. In the spring 
of 1856 the Constitution was sent to Congress with a 
request that Kansas be admitted to the Union, but the 
bill making Kansas a state failed to pass. 

These were not the only events occurring in the Terri- 
tory. It had become evident early in the fall of 1855 

that with the people divided into these two 
War TSS" 188 g rou P s > eacn governing itself and denying 

the authority of the other, there would 
be a conflict. The proslavery people had committed 
several outrages that added to the irritation of the free- 
state people, but the real trouble came with the murder 
of a free-state man. This brought on what was called 
the Wakarusa War. 

A proslavery man named Coleman shot and killed a 
young free-state man named Dow. This occurred about 

ten miles south of Lawrence. Coleman 
oH\e e tfo n u n ble g then fled to Westport, Missouri, where he 

appealed for protection to a man named 
Jones, who, although he lived in Missouri and was the 
postmaster at Westport, had been appointed by the 
"Bogus Legislature" as sheriff of Douglas County. Jones 
was a border ruffian of the lowest and most dangerous 
type, and had made himself obnoxious to the free-state 
people by his leadership in the fraudulent elections. 
In the meantime a friend of Coleman declared that his 



RIVAL GOVERNMENTS IN KANSAS 81 

life was threatened by Jacob Branson, an old man with 
whom young Dow had made his home. 
of Branson Thereupon Sheriff Jones arrested Bran- 

son, but a party of free-state men, indig- 
nant because of such high-handed proceedings, rescued 
him and took him to Lawrence. 

Of all the settlements in Kansas, Lawrence was the most 
hated by the proslavery people, for it was the hotbed of 
Proslavery free-state principles and the gathering 

hatred of place of those who scorned the Territorial 

Legislature. There had come to be a gen- 
eral proslavery conviction that nothing less than the 
destruction of this town could bring them peace and 
safety. 

Lawrence had nothing to do with any of this trouble with 
the sheriff, but when the rescued Branson was taken there 
Sheriff Jones ^ & ave ^ ne enemv an excuse to threaten the 
gathers an destruction of the town. When his pris- 

oner was taken from him, Jones sent a call 
to Missouri for help and asked Governor Shannon for 
three thousand men to "carry out the laws." The result 
was that fifteen hundred Missourians assembled for the 
destruction of Lawrence, and camped on the banks of the 
Wakarusa River about three miles south of the town. 

Meanwhile, although Branson and his rescuers had left 
Lawrence and there was not a man in the town for whom 
Lawrence Jones had a warrant, his army continued 

prepares for to gather, and Lawrence prepared for de- 

fense. The surrounding settlers came in 
and the six hundred men built fortifications and drilled. 
The army of Jones, "an unwashed, braggart, volcanic 
multitude," was living off the surrounding country, 
rifling cabins and stealing horses and cattle. The people 



82 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

of Lawrence were feeling the burden of the siege also, 
for with the large number of those who had come in from 
the outside their supplies were being rap- 
Wakarusa e War ^ly exhausted. Finally two men suc- 
ceeded in getting through the lines of the 
enemy and in reaching the Governor who was being de- 
ceived about conditions. Governor Shannon then came 
to Lawrence, and, learning how things really were, took 
an active part in arranging a treaty between the op- 
posing forces and, to the disgust and disappointment 
of Sheriff Jones, dispersed the proslavery army. Without 
battle or bloodshed, what has since been known as the 
Wakarusa War was over. 

SUMMARY 

Instead of submitting to the proslavery Territorial Gov- 
ernment, the free-state people decided to set up another 
government. They held a convention at Topeka and drew 
up a constitution prohibiting slavery. This constitution 
was adopted by the free-state people of the Territory, and 
then sent to Congress with a request that Kansas be ad- 
mitted to the Union. The bill failed to pass. These rival 
governments within the Territory brought on the Wakarusa 
War, the principal events of which were as follows: Cole- 
man shot Dow and fled to Jones, sheriff of Douglas County, 
for protection. Jones arrested Dow's friend Branson, who 
was rescued by free-state men and taken to Lawrence, the 
town most hated by the proslavery people. Jones then 
gathered an army of Missourians for the purpose of de- 
stroying Lawrence. While both sides were preparing for 
the struggle, two free-state men succeeded in reaching 
Governor Shannon, who came to Lawrence, and, on learn- 
ing the real condition, succeeded in arranging a treaty 
of peace, and dispersed the proslavery army. 



RIVAL GOVERNMENTS IN KANSAS 83 

REFERENCES 

Prentis, History of Kansas pp. 88-92. 
Spring, Kansas. 
Holloway, History of Kansas. 
Tuttle, History of Kansas. 
Gihon, Geary and Kansas. 
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 101-120. 

Historical Collections, vol. VI, p. 291; vol. vil, p. 521; vol. IX, 
p. 540; vol. x, p. 457. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Explain what is meant by "rival governments in Kansas." 

2. What was the purpose of the Topeka Constitution? 

3. Was Kansas admitted under this Constitution? 

4. Who was Charles Robinson? James H. Lane? 

5. What event brought on the Wakarusa War? Why was it so 
named? 

6. Name five persons connected with this war, and tell some- 
thing of each. 

7. What did Lawrence have to do with the trouble? 

8. Give the events of the Wakarusa War. How was it ended? 




Territorial Governors 



CHAPTER X 

THE PERIOD OF VIOLENCE 

The Wakarusa War closed in December, 1855. This 
second winter proved to be an exceedingly severe one, and 
The severe many of the settlers were not sufficiently 

winter of protected against the sudden and intense 

l855-'56 colcL Mogt of the houses w ' ere hastily 

constructed, one-room log buildings, many of them with 
dirt floors, and windows and doors of cotton cloth. The 
storms drifted into these cabins through numberless chinks 
and cracks in roof and walls. One of the pioneers, writing 
of that winter, says: "At times, when the winds were bleak- 
est we went to bed as the only escape from freezing. More 
than once we awoke in the morning to find six inches of 
snow in the cabin. To get up, to make one's toilet under 
such circumstances, was not a very comfortable per- 
formance. Often we had little to eat; the wolf was never 
far from our door during that hard winter of 1855-' 56." 
The struggle of the pioneers with the hardships of winter 
closed hostilities for a while, but it soon became evident that 

the Missourianswere preparing more exten- 
fo^hoSilktes sively than ever to invade Kansas, destroy 

Lawrence, and drive the free-state people 
from the Territory, or force them to recognize the proslav- 
ery Territorial Government. The free-state people began 
to gather stores and ammunition and to send calls to the 
northern states for men and money to meet the situation. 
A number of minor conflicts occurred. Sheriff Jones 

(85) 



86 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



was wounded, a young free-state man named Barber was 
The sacking of killed, and then came the long feared at- 
Lawrence, tack upon Lawrence. From the beginning 

May 21, 1856 the poHcy of the free . state people had 

been to avoid conflict wherever possible. On this occasion 
they made every attempt to conciliate and to pacify the 
attacking force, but in vain. As the proslavery leaders 
rode through the town they were invited to dinner by Mr. 
Eldridge, the proprietor of the new $20,000 hotel built 
by the Emigrant Aid Company. They accepted the in- 
vitation, and in the afternoon 
the mob completely demolished 
the hotel. They threw the two 
printing presses of the town into 
the river, ransacked stores and 
houses, taking whatever they 
wanted, and before leaving town 
burned Governor Robinson's 
home. The financial loss to 
Lawrence and the surrounding 
country was heavy. Though 
the people had been oppressed 
and outraged they had not been 
conquered. By offering no re- 
sistance they had robbed the 
affair of any possible justifica- 
tion in the eyes of the world. 
There was one who bitterly 
opposed this policy of nonresistance, who believed that the 

way to meet the situation was to fight. 

This was John Brown, a tall, gaunt, grizzled 
old man who had come to Kansas a few weeks before the 
sacking of Lawrence. Five sons had preceded him and 




John Brown. 



THE PERIOD OF VIOLENCE 87 

had settled near Osawatomie. John Brown came, not to 
aid his sons in their pioneer struggles, nor to make a home 
for himself, but because it seemed to him an opportunity 
to strike a blow at slavery. He hated slavery with an in- 
tensity that knew no bounds, and he gave all of his mind 
and energy to warfare against it. 

The sacking of Lawrence roused him to a high pitch of 
excitement. He believed that this outrage should be 
The Pottawato- avenged, and determined to strike a blow, 
mie Massacre, to return violence for violence. With a 
party of seven or eight men, including four 
of his sons, he made a night trip down Pottawatomie 
Creek where a number of proslavery settlers lived. Five 
of these settlers were called out of their houses and killed. 

This kind of warfare was not in accordance with the 
plans or purposes of the leaders of the free-state movement, 
Beginning of and was not approved by them. News of 
four months of the awful affair spread rapidly through 
the Territory and created wild excitement. 
The Pottawatomie massacre was followed by a period of 
nearly four months of violence on both sides. 

A band of border ruffians gathered to wreak vengeance 
on those who had taken the lives of the proslavery settlers 
of Pottawatomie Creek. The battle of 
arm for war Black Jack resulted, in which the border 

ruffians were defeated by John Brown and 
his men. The Missouri border hurriedly gathered more 
forces and marched a well-armed body of men into Kan- 
sas. The free-state men had been busy, too, and on June 
5 the Missourians were met by a band of armed free- 
state Kansas settlers. 

This alarming state of affairs aroused Governor Shan- 
non and he at once ordered both sides to disperse. The 
free-state army disbanded, but the Missourians obeyed 



88 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Armies dis- sullenly, and on their way back to Mis- 

persed by the souri they committed a number of depre- 
dations, and pillaged Osawatomie, which 
they hated because it was the home of John Brown. 

The North was deeply stirred by the calamities endured 
by the free-state people in Kansas. Although practically 
Free-state help a ^ °^ ^he free-state newspapers here had 
from northern been closed or destroyed, the papers in the 
northern and eastern states were filled 
with narrations of the hardships, robberies, and murders 
that had befallen antislavery settlers in the Territory. 
The Kansas troubles were discussed from the pulpit, and 
the great preacher, Henry Ward Beecher, advised send- 
ing rifles to Kansas and pledged his church for a definite 
number. The men thus sent out armed with Bibles and 
rifles were sometimes called " The Rifle Christians." Pub- 
lic meetings were addressed by men fresh from Kansas, 
among them ex-Governor Reeder, S. N. Wood, and James 
H. Lane. Much sympathy was aroused for the suffering 
free-state settlers. Large sums of money were raised, 
and companies of men were organized to take part in the 
Territorial contest. The movement swept over the states 
from Boston to the Northwest. 1 " Societies of semi-mili- 
tary cast, no less willing to furnish guns than groceries, 
sprang up as if by magic, and overshadowed the earlier, 
more pacific organizations." As a result of these agita- 
tions a stream of migration moved toward Kansas 
during the spring and summer of 1856. Every party came 
prepared for defense, and many brought with them a 

1. Ingalls said of this period: "No time was ever so minutely 
and so indelibly photographed upon the public retina. The name 
of no State was ever on so many friendly and so many hostile tongues. 
It was pronounced in every political speech, and inserted in every 
political platform. No region was ever so advertised, and the im- 
pression then produced has never passed away." 



THE PERIOD OF VIOLENCE 89 

goodly stock of provisions. One writer says of the immi- 
grants, "There were fewer women and children, less 
house-luggage, fewer agricultural implements; more men, 
more arms, more ammunition." 

These activities of the North were viewed with alarm 
by the proslavery leaders. They believed that this inflow 

of free-state settlers must be checked or it 
closed to free- would end all hope of making Kansas a 
slate immigra- s i ave s t a t e . One of the most important of 

the measures they adopted for this purpose 
was the closing of the Missouri River to free-state immi- 
gration. They overhauled the steamboats and seized 
merchandise and arms that were being sent to free-state 
people, and they arrested and turned back all travelers 
whom they believed to be unfriendly to the South. All 
overland immigrants received similar treatment as soon 
as they touched Missouri soil. 

Although this policy occasioned the northern people 
considerable loss and much inconvenience, it did not 

check the movement toward Kansas. It 
^Kansas simply meant that the immigrants came 

through Iowa and Nebraska, entering 
Kansas from the north. 

The Southerners also appealed to their people and 

money was raised and men were sent to Kansas, but the 

response was not to be compared with that of the North. 

While these things were going on, Kansas was becoming 

more and more lawless. It would be hard to say which 

side surpassed the other in misdeeds. A 
lawlessness ° number of free-state leaders, including Dr. 

Robinson, were held at Lecompton during 
the summer, as prisoners on a charge of treason. The 
free-state people were irritated by the loss of money, sup- 
plies, and mail, through the Missouri blockade. Bands 



90 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

of armed proslavery men guarded the roads out of Topeka 
and Lawrence, so that these towns were really in a state of 
siege. These guards lived on supplies taken from the sur- 
rounding settlers, and cut off supplies sent to the towns so 
that food became very scarce, especially at Lawrence, 
where the chief article of diet for some time was ground 
oats. Meanwhile, supplies were reaching the proslavery 
towns, Tecumseh, Lecompton, and Franklin, without 
hindrance. It was evident to the free-state people that 
their enemies expected to starve them out of the Territory, 
and they were stirred to retaliate. The free-state guerril- 
las again began their work of seizing the supplies of pro- 
slavery settlers and merchants. This was kept up until 
many of the proslavery people were completely impover- 
ished. 

About the first of August a report that Lane was coming 
with the "Army of the North" spread over the Terri- 
tory. James H. Lane was one of the 
the C North l " ° free-state men who had been in the north- 
ern states, addressing meetings and rais- 
ing men and money. He was a very eloquent speaker and 
had influenced many to come to Kansas. The "Army of 
the North" consisted of several hundred men, women, 
and children, most of whom had come to make homes 
for themselves. This army was a combination of several 
parties that had united to come into Kansas over the new 
route through Iowa and Nebraska. Lane was with the 
party, but only a small number were armed or had been 
gathered by him. 

The proslavery leaders began to rally their men along 
the border. The following sentences are taken from one 
of the calls they published: "Lane's men have arrived! 
Civil war is begun! And we call on all who are not pre- 
pared to see their friends butchered, to be themselves 



THE PERIOD OF VIOLENCE 91 

driven from their homes, to rally to the rescue." A large 
number of men soon gathered on the bor- 
army gathers ^ er ' anx i° us ly awaiting permission to 
move into Kansas; but as Governor 
Shannon had dispersed the Missouri army a few weeks 
earlier, he now refused to issue orders for the new army 
to move into the Territory. 

About this time Governor Shannon resigned. He had 
so displeased the proslavery people that he was compelled 
to flee for his life under cover of night. 
no°n res?gnf han ' Daniel Woodson, Secretary of the Terri- 
tory, now became Acting Governor until 
the new Governor should arrive. As he was in full sym- 
pathy with proslavery interests he opened the Territory to 
the Missouri invasion. Woodson's power lasted only three 
weeks, but they were the darkest days that Kansas had 
experienced. 

The proslavery army moved into Kansas. The Potta- 
watomie massacre had not been forgotten, and when this 
army reached Osawatomie, "the head- 
Osawa U tom"e ° f quarters of old Brown," they attacked the 
town. John Brown had only forty-one 
men, and so thoroughly did the enemy do their work this 
time that only four cabins escaped burning. 

At this time the new Territorial Governor, John W. 
Geary, arrived. Governor Geary described the situation 
Arrival of that ne f° un d on his arrival in the follow- 

Govemor Geary, ing words: "I reached Kansas and entered 

September, 1856 upQn the dischar g e of my offidal dutieg in 

the most gloomy hour of her history. Desolation and 
ruin reigned on every hand; homes and firesides were 
deserted; the smoke of burning dwellings darkened the 
atmosphere; women and children, driven from their habi- 
tations, wandered over the prairies and among the wood- 



92 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

lands, or sought refuge even among the Indian tribes. 
The highways were infested with numerous predatory 
bands, and the towns were fortified and garrisoned by 
armies of conflicting partisans, each excited almost to 
frenzy, and determined upon mutual extermination. Such 
was, without exaggeration, the condition of the Territory 
at the period of my arrival. " 

In the meantime the big body of armed Missourians was 

moving forward and the proslavery settlers were gathering 

in answer to a call that closed with these 

t^Terdtory words: " Then let ever y man who can 

bear arms be off to the war again. Let it 

be the third and last time. Let the watchword be, 'Exter- 
mination, total and complete.' " The free-state people were 
scattered, unorganized, and but scantily supplied with 
arms and provisions, and were therefore in no condition to 
meet such a force. Fortunately, the new Governor, whose 
policy was that of fair play, at once ordered all bodies of 
armed men to disband. 

The Missourians, however, continued to move toward 
Lawrence. The Governor then took some United States 
Preparations for troops and went to Lawrence which he 
the defense of found in an almost defenseless condition. 
Lawrence The towR wag poorly fortified, with few 

provisions and not more than ten rounds of ammunition. 
Even the women and children were armed. There were 
not more than three hundred people, but there seemed 
to be no thought of surrender. They would either repulse 
the enemy or perish in the attempt. The arrival of the 
Governor with United States soldiers brought unexpected 
relief. 

On the morning of September 15, Governor Geary 
marched out to the Missouri army encampment about 
three miles from Lawrence, held a conference with the 



THE PERIOD OF VIOLENCE 93 

leaders, and insisted that his orders for disbanding be 
obeyed. The Missourians consented, and the force of 
End of the twenty-seven hundred well-equipped men 

reign of violence, went home. Thus ended the four months' 
September, 1856 rdgn Qf violence i that had begun with the 

sacking of Lawrence in May. The threatened attack on 
Lawrence was the last organized effort of the Missourians 
to take Kansas by force. Both sides soon gave up their 
plundering expeditions, travel became safer and property 
more secure. For a time peace settled down over the Ter- 
ritory, and Governor Geary, believing that order was 
entirely restored to Kansas, appointed November 20 "as 
a day of general praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God." 
With the close of the period of violence a little less than 
two and a half years had passed since the organization of 
Kansas as a territory in the spring of 1854. 

SUMMARY 

Hostilities were renewed in the spring of 1856. The 
Missourians prepared for invasion, and the free-state 
people for defense. Several minor conflicts were followed 
by the sacking of Lawrence, to which the free-state 
people offered no resistance. This policy was not ap- 
proved by John Brown. He counseled revenge and the 
Pottawatomie massacre followed. Then began a four 
months' "reign of terror." Several conflicts followed, 
among them the battle of Black Jack. An army was 
hurriedly gathered by each side, but Governor Shannon 
ordered them to disperse. The sympathy of the whole 
North was aroused, and men and money poured into 
Kansas. This led to the closing of Missouri to free-state 
travel, and the newcomers entered Kansas through Ne- 
braska. During this time both sides were committing 
many outrages and there was a constant condition of law- 
lessness. The coming of the "Army of the North " resulted 

1. This period has given rise to the expression "bleeding Kansas." 



94 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

in the gathering of a large army from Missouri called ''the 
2700." Governor Shannon resigned, and Acting Governor 
Woodson permitted this army to enter Kansas, and it 
marched toward Lawrence, pillaging Osawatomie as it 
passed. While Lawrence was awaiting attack, Geary, the 
new Governor, arrived and ordered the army disbanded. 
This ended the period of violence. 

REFERENCES 
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 93-108. 
Spring, Kansas. 

Robinson, The Kansas Conflict. 

Mrs. Robinson, Kansas- — Its Interior and Exterior Life. 
Blackmar, The Life of Charles Robinson. 
Connelley, James Henry Lane, the Grim Chieftain of Kansas. 
Connelley, John Brown. 
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 120-125. 
Ingalls, Writings, pp. 76-92, 228-262. 
McCarter, A Wall of Men. (A novel.) 

QUESTIONS 

1. When did the Wakarusa War close? 

2. Describe the winter of 1855- , 56. 

3. What conditions came with the spring? 

4. Give an account of the sacking of Lawrence. 

5. Who was John Brown? Why did he come to Kansas? What 
was the Pottawatomie massacre? What do you know of John 
Brown other than what is given in this booK? 

6. Give an account of the battle of Black Jack, the gathering of 
armies, and the pillaging of Osawatomie. 

7. What free-state assistance was given by the North? 

8. What measure did this lead Missouri to take? 

9. What was the "Army of the North"? 

10. What was "the 2700"? Who permitted this force to enter 
Kansas? 

11. Give an account of the second attack on Osawatomie. 

12. Name the Territorial Governors up to this time. 

13. Who was the new Governor? How did he describe the con- 
ditions that he found in Kansas? 

14. How was Lawrence threatened? What became of the army? 

15. When did the period of violence close? 

16. What condition followed? 

17. How long was this after the organization of the Territory? 



CHAPTER XI 

THE PERIOD OF POLITICAL CONTESTS 

The Missourians had given up hope of conquering 
Kansas by force. After the close of the period of violence 
Beginning of tne contest became almost entirely a po- 
the political litical struggle between the proslavery and 

period, 1857 the free _ state settlers, each side trying to 

win Kansas by securing its government. The next few 
years were filled with conventions, elections, and political 
schemes. 

The second Territorial Legislature met at Lecompton in 
the opening days of 1857. Because of Governor Geary's 

Governor Geary efforts to be J ust to both sideS > the LeglS " 
leaves the lature did everything possible to annoy 

Territory and harass him# T h e free-state men rallied 

to his support, but conditions soon became so intolerable 
that one night in March, after having been in office about 
six months, he made a hasty escape from Kansas. Gov- 
ernor Geary had found Kansas in a deplorable condition 
and left it not greatly improved, but he had attempted 
to do justice to all. His place was taken by Governor 
Walker, who arrived in May. 

Up to this time the only attempt to get Kansas admitted 
as a state was the effort of the free-state men under the 
A proslavery Topeka Constitution, but the proslavery 
constitution people had long been planning to draw up 

prepared, 1857 a constitution under which they might 
secure the admission of Kansas as a slave state. The 

(95) 



96 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Territorial Legislature provided for a constitutional con- 
vention, which met at Lecompton in September, 1857, and 
prepared what was called the Lecompton Constitution. 

Two important events were to take place in the fall of 
1857; the election of a new Territorial Legislature, and 
The first free- the vo ^ e on ^ ne Lecompton Constitution. 
state Territorial When election day came, United States 
troops were stationed in the different pre- 
cincts to prevent illegal voting and invasions from Mis- 
souri. Under Governor Walker's promise of a fair election, 
both parties voted for the first time since the fraudulent 
election in the spring of 1855. The result was a free- 
state victory, and for the first time Kansas was to have 
a free-state Legislature. This result was not achieved 
without many protests and threats from the proslavery 
people, who now became afraid to submit their Lecomp- 
ton Constitution to a vote, for it was clear that the 
free-state people were largely in the majority and would 
defeat it. 

After a number of meetings and debates among them- 
selves, the proslavery people decided to get around this 
Fear to submit difficulty by not submitting the Constitu- 
te Lecompton tion at all, but by offering instead these 
Constitution twQ statements to c hoose between: "The 

Constitution with slavery/' or "The Constitution without 

slavery." 

This gave the free-state people no chance to vote against 

the Constitution as a whole, and of course their indignation 
was aroused. The election was held in 

an C e h le S cUon hoIdS December, 1857. The free-state men re- 
fused to vote, and after several meetings 

and a special session of their new free-state Legislature the 

free-state people appointed a day in January, 1858, for an 



THE PERIOD OF POLITICAL CONTESTS 97 

election to decide for or against the Constitution. This 
time the proslavery party refused to vote. Thus each side 
held an election and carried its point by a big majority. 

No attention was paid to the defeat of the Constitution 
at the hands of the free-state people, and it was sent to 
End of the Congress. After a long discussion Con- 

Lecompton gress attached a number of conditions to 

Constitution the Constitution an( j sent ft back to Kansas 

to be voted on by all the people. Of the 13,000 votes 
cast at this election, which was held August 2, 1858, more 
than 11,000 were against it. This ended the second at- 
tempt to get Kansas admitted as a state. 

While the Lecompton Constitution was pending in 
Congress, the free-state people concluded that it was time 
The Leaven- f° r them to try their hands at constitution 
worth Consti- making again. During the winter and 
tution, 1858 gpring of lg58 they produced the Leaven- 

worth Constitution, but it was not favorably received by 
the people of Kansas and was never voted on by either 
house of Congress. 

Practically all of these events of Territorial history oc- 
curred within a small area. With Lawrence as a center, 
Trouble in a c i rc l e with a radius of thirty miles would 

southeastern include them all. Another part of Kansas, 
the southeastern, including what is now 
Miami, Linn, and Bourbon counties, came into promi- 
nence at this time and showed that the period of blood- 
shed was not yet past. The southeastern part of the 
Territory had been settled largely by proslavery people, 
but gradually the Northerners began to come in. The pro- 
slavery people frequently made raids on them, the free- 
state settlers retaliated, and southern Kansas was soon in 
the midst of a guerrilla warfare. The free-state people 



98 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

engaged in this warfare came to be known as Jayhawk- 
ers. 1 Their leader was a man named James Montgomery. 

These conditions continued until in the spring of 1858. 
While the Lecompton and Leavenworth constitutions were 
being considered in the Territory, there 
Cygnes^assacre occurre d in Linn County the Marais des 
Cygnes massacre, the most shocking and 
bloody event of the whole Territorial period. A Southerner 
named Hamelton made up a list of free-state men whom he 
planned to seize and execute. On May 19, almost two 
years to the day after .the Pottawatomie massacre by John 
Brown, Hamelton with a gang of Missourians captured 
•eleven of the free-state men, marched them to a near-by 
gulch, lined them up and fired a volley. Five men were 
killed, five were wounded, and one remained unharmed. 
This terrible deed created great excitement, and an un- 
successful attempt was made to capture Hamelton and 
his men. 2 

Steps were taken to bring about a more settled condition 
in southeastern Kansas. Though several other outrages 
~ , . took place, none of them was so barbar- 

Order restored r ' . 

ous as the Marais des Cygnes massacre, 
and order was gradually restored. 

During the trouble over the Lecompton Constitution in 
the closing days c; 1857 Governor Walker was compelled 
Proslavery and to res ig n > and in the autumn of 1858 
free- state names Governor Denver, who succeeded him, 
voluntarily resigned. Although Denver 
was the fifth Territorial Governor, he was the first one 

1. The origin of the word "Jayhawker" is uncertain, though a 
number of different accounts have been given of it. In recent years 
the term has come to be applied to our State and our people, and it 
is not unusual for a Kansan to be spoken of as a "Jayhawker." 

2. One of Hamelton's men was brought to justice five years 
later. 



THE PERIOD OF POLITICAL CONTESTS 99 

who had not been compelled to give up his office. This 
was one of the indications that better days were begin- 
ning in Kansas. Lawlessness was practically over. The 
South was no longer hopeful of making Kansas a slave 
state. The settlers dropped the termo proslavery and 
free-state, and identified themselves with the National 
political parties. 

In the summer of the next year, 1859, a fourth consti- 
tutional convention was held at Wyandotte. There was 
The Wyandotte * ess nar( ^ feeling now between the two fac- 
Constitution, tions, and the members of this convention 
were from both political parties, Democrat 
and Republican. It was generally conceded by this time 
that Kansas was to be a free state, and the new Consti- 
tution contained the words, "There shall be no slavery in 
this State, and no involuntary servitude, except for crime, 
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This 
was called the Wyandotte Constitution, and when it was 
submitted to the people in the fall a large majority of 
the votes were cast in favor of it. 

But the question was not yet settled, for Congress had 
to vote on the admission of Kansas under the Wyandotte 
Kansas admitted Constitution. These events took place in 
to the Union, the closing days of 1859, only a little more 
January 29, 1861 than & year before the beginning of the 

Civil War. Relations between the North and the South 
had become strained almost to the breaking point. The 
Congressmen from the South had given up hope of 
making Kansas a slave state, but they were certainly 
not anxious to admit it as a free state, and conse- 
quently a year passed before the Wyandotte Constitution 
of Kansas was acted upon. Finally, in January, 1861, 
some of the southern states seceded from the Union and 
their representatives and senators withdrew from Con- 



100 A HISTOBY OF KANSAS 

gress, leaving a free-state majority. The bill for the ad- 
mission of Kansas under the Wyandotte Constitution was 
at once called up and passed. The next day it was 
signed by President Buchanan, and on January 29, 1861, 
Kansas became a state. 

In December, 1859, shortly after the people had voted 
to adopt the Wyandotte Constitution, they held an election 
to choose state officers to act whenever 
officers^* 6 Kansas should be admitted to the Union. 

For Governor they chose Dr. Charles 
Robinson, who had so faithfully served the free-state cause 
throughout the long but successful struggle. The first 
United States senators from Kansas were two other well- 
known free-state men, James H. Lane and Samuel C. 
Pomeroy. The Wyandotte constitution designated To- 
peka as the temporary capital. An election was held in 
November, 1861, for the purpose of selecting a permanent 
capital. Topeka received 7996 votes, Lawrence 5291, 
and all other places 1184. Thus Topeka became the 
capital of Kansas. 

SUMMARY 

The first two and a half years of the Territorial period 
were spent in the warfare which was practically closed 
when Governor Geary sent "the 2700" home. The last 
four months of the two and a half years formed the 
"period of violence." The next three years were given to 
the political struggle which ended with the adoption of the 
Wyandotte Constitution. During the remaining year the 
people went about their work, while this Constitution was 
pending in Congress. In 1857, early in the political 
period, the free-state people succeeded, for the first time, 
in electing the Legislature. The proslavery people pre- 
pared the Lecompton Constitution, but submitted to 
the people only two statements concerning it. The 
free-state people refused to vote, but held another elec- 
tion, at which the proslavery people refused to vote. 



THE PERIOD OF POLITICAL CONTESTS 101 

After the Lecompton Constitution was returned from 
Congress it was voted on by both factions and defeated. 
In the meantime the free-state people submitted the 
Leavenworth Constitution, which was defeated. During 
the last six months of the political period the Wyandotte 
Constitution was prepared, adopted, and sent to Congress. 
This was in 1859. More than a year passed before Con- 
gress acted on the matter; then, January 29, 1861, Kansas, 
became a state. 

REFERENCES 

Spring, Kansas. 

Robinson, The Kansas Conflict. 

Mrs. Robinson, Kansas — Its Interior and Exterior Life. 
Holloway, History of Kansas. 
Prentis, Histoj^ of Kansas, pp. 107-143. 
Muzzey, American History, pp. 379-412. 
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 155-179. 
Ingalls, Writings, pp. 443-465. 

Historical Collections, vol. VI, p. 365; vol. X, pp. 169, 216; voL 
VIII, pp. 331, 443; vol. XI, p. 47; vol. XII, p. 331. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How long was Kansas a territory ? Into what periods may 
this time be divided ? 

2. Was Lecompton a proslavery or a free-state town ? Of 
which faction was the second Legislature ? How did the Legisla- 
ture treat Governor Geary ? Who succeeded him ? 

3. What was the result of the election for a third Territorial 
Legislature ? 

4. When and by whom was the Lecompton Constitution made ? 
Why was it not submitted as a whole ? What became of it ? 

5. Give an account of the Leavenworth Constitution. 

6. Within about what area did all these events occur ? Show 
this on a map of Kansas. 

7. Give an account of the troubles in southeastern Kansas. 
Who were the Jayhawkers ? 

8. Give an account of the Marais des Cygnes massacre. 

9. What were the conditions in Kansas by the opening of 1859 ? 

10. What was the last constitution made in Kansas ? When 
and by whom was it made ? 

11. When was Kansas admitted to the Union ? 

12. Who was the first State Governor ? 

13. How was the State capital selected ? 



102 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



THE HOMES OF KANSAS. 

The cabin homes of Kansas! 

How modestly they stood, 
Along the sunny hillsides, 

Or nestled in the wood. 
They sheltered men and women, 

Brave-hearted pioneers; 
Each one became a landmark 

Of Freedom's trial years. 

The sod-built homes of Kansas! 

Though built of mother earth, 
Within their walls so humble 

Are souls of sterling worth. 
Though poverty and struggle 

May be the builder's lot, 
The sod house is a castle 

Where failure enters not. 

The dugout homes of Kansas! 

The lowliest of all, 
They hold the homestead title 

A§ firm as marble hall. 
Those dwellers in the cavern, 

Beneath the storms and snows, 
Shall make the desert places 

To blossom as the rose. 

The splendid homes of Kansas! 

How proudly now they stand 
Amid the fields and orchards, 

All o'er the smiling land. 
They rose up where the cabins 

Once marked the virgin soil, 
And are the fitting emblems 

Of patient years of toil. 

God bless the homes of Kansas! 

From poorest to the best; 
The cabin of the border, 

The sod house of the west; 
The dugout, low and lonely, 

The mansion, grand and great; 
The hands that laid their hearthstones 

Have built a mighty State. 

—Sol Miller. 



CHAPTER XII 

PIONEER LIFE 

The seven Territorial years had brought freedom to 
Kansas, but the struggle had left the pioneers little time 
Comforts of life or strength for building better homes, im- 
receive little proving their farms, or establishing pub- 
attention lic mst i tut i ons . The energy that might 

have accomplished these things had been given to fight- 




A Dugout. 

ing and to politics. When Kansas became a state, the 
people had almost as few of the comforts of life as when 
they first came to the Territory. A few of them had come 

(103) 



104 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



with little idea of the hardships and privations of fron- 
tier life, and others had believed that such conditions 
would last but a short time. Many of these, of course, 
grew discouraged and returned to their eastern homes. 
But the great body of Kansas pioneers had come with the 
twofold purpose of securing homes and of making a free 
state and were not to be discouraged. They had come to 
stay. 




In Pioneer Days. 

Frontier life is always hard, but it was made many times 
harder in Kansas by the years of strife and warfare. The 
Conditions of inconveniences and hardships were espe- 
living during cially severe outside the towns. In these 
days of railways and good roads, of the 
telegraph and the telephone, it is difficult to realize 
what life on the prairies meant in the '50's. Post offices 
and mail routes came slowly, and for many of the settlers 



PIONEER LIFE 105 

a trip for mail and provisions meant a journey of two or 
three days, or even longer, with an ox team. Neighbors 
were often many miles apart. Nearly every one's sup- 
ply of farming implements was scanty, and to replace 
a broken ax might require a trip of from twenty-five to 
fifty miles. In the winter these journeys were often ac- 
companied with danger and suffering. Streams were 
without bridges and many of the fords were deep and 
treacherous. Fences were few and roads were mere trails 
over the prairies, so when the blizzard swept across the 
country, piling its drifts of snow and obliterating every 
landmark, the unfortunate traveler was in great danger 
of losing his way. Getting a farm under cultivation was 
slow work at best. Since most of the settlers brought 
but little money with them they had to trust to raising 
a crop, and if sickness or drouth or raids made it impos- 
sible to raise the crop, want and suffering followed. 

The privations, the sacrifices, and the loneliness of 
pioneer life fell most heavily on the women. Business and 
necessity brought the men together occasionally, but the 
pioneer woman in the isolation of her prairie home often 
saw no friendly face for months at a time. There was 
much sickness and death, especially among women and 
children, resulting from the combination of poor food, un- 
comfortable houses, homesickness, and excitement arising 
from the many dangers. The cost of transportation was 
so great that only the most necessary articles were brought 
from the East. Most furniture was home-made and cook- 
ing was done over an open fireplace. Corn bread and bacon 
with occasional game and wild fruits were the usual foods. 
In wet seasons there was much fever and ague. Sometimes 
a whole family would be sick at the same time, with no 
neighbors near enough to help and no physician within 
many miles. 



106 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




A Sod House. 

Each year during the Territorial period the crops raised 
were barely sufficient to keep the people through the 
winter. There was no surplus at any time, 
?85 e 9- d '6 o Uth ° f and when the summer of 1859 brought a 
drouth, a famine resulted. Through all 
the hard struggle the people had believed that as soon as 
the strife and political difficulties were over, prosperity 
would come. However, with the dawning of peace in the 
Territory there came the most severe drouth that has ever 
been known in the West. It began in June, 1859, and 
from that time until November, 1860, a period of more 
than sixteen months, not enough rain fell at any one time 
to wet the earth to a depth of more than two inches. Two 
light snows fell during the winter, but neither was heavy 
enough to cover the ground. The ground became so dry 
that it broke open in great cracks, wells and springs went 
dry, and the crops were a total failure. 



PIONEER LIFE 107 

There were, at this time, nearly 100,000 people in Kan- 
sas, and to fully 60,000 of them the drouth finally meant 

Effect of the that tlie ^ must r8Ceive nel P or starve. 

drouth on They had been able to fight border ruffians, 

Kansas settlers but they ^^ nQt fight starvation . After 

a year of the drouth they began to give up and go back 
East. During the fall of 1860 no fewer than 30,000 set- 
tlers abandoned their claims and the improvements that 
had been made at the expense of so much labor, and left 
Kansas. There were still 30,000 people here for whom 
charity was necessary. All this brought bitter disappoint- 
ment to the people who had come to Kansas with high 
hopes and willing hands. 

As soon as the true condition of affairs was known in the 
East a movement was begun for the relief of the sufferers. 
Many states responded liberally, and im- 
tiJe East fr ° m niense quantities of provisions and clothes 
were sent here to be distributed. Hundreds 
of bushels of seed wheat were furnished. Besides all of 
the public help, many relatives and friends sent supplies 
to the pioneers. Nevertheless, there were many that 
winter who barely escaped starvation. 

Great as was the suffering from disappointment and 
want, the drouth brought another evil; it threw Kansas 
Drouth retards back m l ^ s development. Not only had a 
development of third of the population left the Territory, 
Kansas ^ ^ accounts given by those who re- 

turned tended to discourage others from coming. The 
old stories about the " Great American Desert" were 
revived. Kansas was looked upon as a place of drouth 
and famine, and for several years the number of immi- 
grants was much decreased. 

All this was taking place while the Wyandotte Consti- 



108 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

tution was being considered. Kansas was admitted as a 

state on January 29, 1861, at the close of 

Statehood the terrible drout h. Through the winter 

and spring of 1861 supplies continued to 
come in from other states, and included seeds for the 
spring planting. An excellent season followed. It might 
be thought that at last the Kansas settlers were to have an 
opportunity to cultivate their farms, build homes, and 
make their new State a place of peace and prosperity. But 
not so; Kansas was again to suffer from the troubles of the 
Nation. The opening of the Civil War was near. 

SUMMARY 

The fighting and political strife of the Territorial period 
left the people little opportunity for building up the 
country. Statehood found frontier life but little improved. 
The early settlers came to secure homes and to make 
Kansas a free state, and were not easily discouraged. The 
drouth of 1859-'60 caused nearly a third of the 100,000 
Kansas settlers to leave the Territory, and another third 
had to be given aid from the East. Immigration to Kan- 
sas was greatly decreased for a time. A good crop year 
followed, but Kansas had yet to pass through the Civil 
War before it could enjoy peace. 

REFERENCES 

Andreas, History of Kansas, County Histories. 

Cordley, Pioneering in Kansas. 

Hunt, Kansas History for Children. 

Historical Collections, vol. ix, pp. 33, 126; vol. XII, p. 353. 

Mrs. Robinson, Kansas — Its Interior and Exterior Life. 

Ropes, Six Months in Kansas. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What had been the chief interest of the Kansas people dur- 
ing the Territorial period ? 

2. What were the chief reasons for people coming to Kansas ? 

3. Discuss the conditions under which the pioneers lived, in- 
cluding travel, roads, bridges, fences, money, social life, houses, 
furniture, food, and health. 



PIONEER LIFE 109 

4. Give an account of the drouth of 1859-'60. How long did 
it last ? 

5. What was the population of Kansas in 1860 ? 

6. What was the effect of the drouth on Kansas ? 

7. What have you read of pioneer conditions other than in this 
book? 

8. What have you learned about early Kansas conditions from 
talking with people ? 

9. What new burden came with the beginning of statehood ? 



110 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 



" 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' 
I believe this government cannot endure perma- 
nently half slave and half free. I do not expect 
the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the 
house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be 
divided." — Abraham Lincoln. 



CHAPTER XIII 
KANSAS IN THE CIVIL WAR 

Just before Kansas was admitted several of the south- 
ern states seceded from the Union. The trouble between 
the North and the South had reached the 
Uncivil Var point where it could no longer be compro- 
mised. Other states seceded, and when, 
on April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter was fire,d upon, the Civil 
War had begun. 

A state that had just passed through nearly seven years 
of territorial struggle closing with a famine would hardly 
Part taken by ^ e expected to take an active part in a 
Kansas in the great war, but the Kansas people had been 
battling over the slavery question, and, 
being deeply interested in the outcome, were ready to 
take up arms in defense of the principle of freedom. 
Every call for soldiers to defend the Union was liberally 
responded to in Kansas. This State furnished more 
soldiers in proportion to its population than did any other 
state. During the four years of the war Kansas furnished 
a few more than twenty thousand men, nearly four 
thousand more than were asked for, and all of them were 
volunteers. The poverty in the Kansas homes made it 
especially hard for families to be left unprovided for, and 
as much honor is due the women who stayed at home to 
work as is due the men who marched away to fight. The 
Kansas soldiers did duty on many battle-fields, and so 
conducted themselves as to bring much credit to their 

(ill) 



112 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

State. During the war Kansas was exposed to three lines 
of danger; invasions by the regular Confederate army, 
attacks by the unorganized border troops, and Indian 
raids on the frontier. 

For Kansas people the Civil War meant a continuation 
of the border troubles. Gangs of ruffians plundered and 
The Quantrill destroyed property, and frequently corn- 
raid, August 21, mitted worse crimes. These acts reached 
1863 a climax in the destruction of Lawrence 

on August 21, 1863. The raid on Lawrence was led by 
Quantrill, a border ruffian who had taken an active part 
in the guerrilla warfare, and who with his men had sacked 
several smaller towns along the border. With about 
four hundred and fifty mounted men Quantrill crossed the 
border in the late afternoon of August 20, and proceeded 
toward Lawrence. Just before sunrise the raiders reached 
a hill only a mile from the town. It is strange that they 
could have made the ride of forty miles through Kansas 
settlements without a word of warning reaching Lawrence, 
but such was the case. When Quantrill and his men 
halted within pistol shot of the houses of Lawrence to 
plan their attack, the people suspected no danger. There 
was no armed organization within the city, and all fire- 
arms were locked in the arsenal. 

The attack began with a wild charge on the town. 
Horsemen rode through the streets at top speed, shooting 
in every direction. Then they divided into small gangs 
and scattered over the town under orders to "burn every 
house and kill every man." The horror of what followed 
has seldom been equaled in the warfare of civilized 
people. When the people of Lawrence realized that their 
town was in the possession of Quantrill's band they ex- 
pected that it would be burned and a few prominent citizens 
killed, but wholesale murder was not looked for, and many 



KANSAS IN THE CIVIL WAR 113 

who might have escaped remained and were killed. For 
four hours the ruffians robbed buildings, shot the occu- 
pants, and applied the torch. Every house was a scene of 
brutality or of remarkable escape. When the work of 
butchery and destruction was finished, Quantrill and his 
men retreated toward Missouri, mounted on stolen horses 
and heavily laden with plunder. They kept up their work 
of destruction by burning farmhouses as they passed. A 
few troops followed them, but the raiders escaped across 
the border. 

The number of lives lost can never be known with 
certainty, but it was about one hundred and fifty. Many 

were seriously wounded. The loss cf 
the raid m property was variously estimated from one 

to two million dollars. The work of re- 
building the town was immediately begun, and with all 
their poverty the people of the State gave generously to 
the stricken citizens of Lawrence. 

Kansas was too far away from the center of conflict of 
the Civil War to become the scene of great battles, but it 
General Price was ^ rom ^ me to time threatened with in- 
threatens vasion by the regular Confederate army. 

During the last year of the war, General 
Price, with a large Confederate force, marched north- 
ward through Arkansas into Missouri. When it was 
reported that he was moving westward, Kansas issued 
a call for more soldiers. The response was immediate. 
More than 16,000 men appeared for service. A force of 
Kansas troops marched into Missouri and met Price's 
army in battle at Lexington. As the armies moved west- 
ward other battles were fought at the Little Blue and at 
the Big Blue, and again at Kansas City and Westport, 
after which Price was forced to retreat southward. He 
was followed by the Union army. He crossed into Kan- 



114 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



sas in Linn County, and skirmishes took place at Trading 
Post Ford, at the Mounds, and at Mine Creek. Price 
was then forced into Missouri again, where he was soon 
defeated. 

In April, 1865, the great war came to a close, after last- 
ing almost exactly four years. The questions of slavery 
and disunion were finally settled. The 

Waives Civi! whole nation was thankful to lay down its 
arms and go back home, "to drop the 
sword and grasp the plow," but this was especially true 
of Kansas, where the people had been doing battle over 
the slavery question for eleven years. The Territorial pe- 
riod and the Civil War period made one continuous conflict. 




The counties of Kansas at the close of the Civil War. 

With the heavy drain on resources and population, it was 
not to be expected that Kansas would make much growth 
or progress during the Civil War. Development could 
little more than equal waste and loss. The population of 
Kansas numbered about 100,000 at the beginning of the 
war, and about 136,000 at the close. There had been little 
improvement in the manner of living during the four 
years. 



KANSAS IN THE CIVIL WAR 115 

SUMMARY 

The Civil War began within three months after Kansas 
became a state. Although Kansas had had no opportunity 
to recover from the Territorial struggle, it took an active 
part in the war. General Price threatened to invade 
Kansas with a large Confederate force, but did not suc- 
ceed. The Indians committed depredations on the western 
frontier. The worst feature of the war was the border 
trouble, of which the Quantrill raid was the climax. Dur- 
ing the four years of the Civil War Kansas did not make 
a large gain in population or in progress. 

REFERENCES 

Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 179-215. 
Blackmar, Life of Robinson. 
Crawford, Kansas in the Sixties. 
Cordley, History of Lawrence. 
Connelley, Quantrill and the Border Wars. 

Historical Collections, vol. vm, pp. 271, 352; vol. IX, pp. 430, 
455; vol. xi, p. 217; vol. V, p. 116; vol. VI, pp. 305, 317. 
Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 143-168. 
Spring, Kansas, chap. xiii. 

QUESTIONS 

1. When did the Civil War begin? How long was this after 
Kansas had become a state? 

2. What part did Kansas take in the war? Explain. 

3. What were the three classes of danger to which Kansas was 
exposed? Discuss each. 

4. To which of these does the Price campaign belong? 

5. Who was General Price? Give an account of his threatened 
invasion of Kansas. 

6. Who was Quantrill? Give an account of his raid on Law- 
rence. 

7. How long did the Civil War last? 

8. How long had it been since Kansas was opened for settle- 
ment? What progress had been made? 

9. What was the population of Kansas in 1865? 




It has long been customary for each nation to have a great 
seal. The United States has one, as has also each of the states. A 
seal is used to make an impression on a document as a sign of its 
genuineness. The design for the Great Seal of Kansas was adopted 
by the first State Legislature. The thirty-four stars represent the 
thirty-four states comprising the Union at that time. The scene is 
supposed to typify the settlement and growth of the State. The 
motto "Ad astra per aspem," meaning " To the stars through diffi- 
culties," is peculiarly descriptive of the state's history. 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 

A half century has passed since the close of the Civil 

War; a half century of work, growth, and progress. The 

Beginning earlier years in Kansas were but a time of 

of the preparation, and with the end of the war 

half century the peQple were &t ^ free to tum thdr 

attention to farming or to other occupations. Hundreds 
of new settlers poured into the State each year. Little 
pioneer homes dotted the eastern part of the State more 
and more thickly and the line of settlement moved rapidly 
westward. 

As the white-topped wagons of the immigrants became 
more numerous the Indian and the buffalo were pushed 

farther on. But the red man did not give 
on d the front^ up his hunting ground without a struggle. 

The encroachments of the settlers had long 
been resented. Even before the close of the Civil War, 
while the soldiers were needed elsewhere, the Indians had 
begun their depredations on the frontier. In 1865 and 
1866 settlements were attacked in Republic and Cloud 
counties, stock was driven away, much property was 
destroyed, and a number of people were killed. The few 
settlers on their scattered claims were poorly armed, and, 
with no soldiers near to protect them, they were in con- 
stant fear of wandering tribes of hostile Indians. 

The next year United States troops were sent to pro- 
tect the frontier. They drove the Indians back and de- 
stroyed one of their villages. This only made the red 

(117) 



118 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

men eager for revenge, and they began an open war on 

all settlers, emigrant trains, traders, and 
the e i n ndianr ith travelers. Robberies and murders were 

committed along the whole frontier, par- 
ticularly in the Republican, Solomon, and Smoky Hill 
valleys, and in Marion, Butler and Greenwood counties. 
Travel over the Santa Fe and other westward trails almost 
ceased and the line of settlement was pushed eastward 
many miles. Many tribes engaged in these attacks. 
They dashed into the State from north or south or west, 
committed their cruelties, and were gone. 

At one time the Government made a treaty with several 
tribes by which they were removed to a reservation in 

the Indian Territory, but were to have 
treaty r ° en the privilege of hunting in Kansas as far 

north as the Arkansas River, and were also 
to be provided with arms. They kept their promise of 
peace only until they could get ready for another attack, 
and while part of them were being supplied with arms at 
one of the forts the rest were engaged in a most heartless 
and bloody raid on the northwestern settlements. 

This led Governor Crawford to organize several com- 
panies of Kansas volunteers and to ask for more United 

States soldiers. Later a regiment of Kan- 
subdued ianS sas volunteer cavalry was called for, and 

on November 4, 1868, Governor Crawford 
resigned his office to take command of this, the Nineteenth 
Regiment. After considerable fighting the Indians were 
finally subdued, and by 1870 the trouble was practically 
ended. There were a few outbreaks from time to time, but 
none of them was very serious. During this contest, 
which had lasted from 1864 to 1869, the lives of more than 
a thousand Kansas settlers had been lost, a great deal of 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 119 

property had been destroyed, and the westward movement 
of settlement had been greatly retarded. 

Shortly after the admission of Kansas to the Union y 
Congress passed a measure that had a wonderful effect on 
the growth of the State. This measure 
Law, I i862 eStead was the Homestead Law, passed in 1862. 
This law provides that any person who is 
the head of a family, or who is twenty-one years of age, and 
who is a citizen of the United States or has declared his 
intention to become such, may acquire a tract of one 
hundred and sixty acres of public land on condition of 
settlement, cultivation, and occupancy as a home for a 
period of five years, and on payment of certain moderate 
fees. It also provides that the time that any settler has 
served in the army or navy may be deducted from the five 
years. Previous to 1862 settlers bought their claims of the 
Government. The liberal provisions of the Homestead 
Law attracted thousands of settlers to Kansas. Many of 
the newcomers were young men who had been in the 
army. 1 Many of them were foreigners newly arrived in 
America, while thousands of others came from the eastern 
or central states. Nearly all of them were poor. Many 
had scarcely enough to provide for themselves until the 
harvesting of their first crop. But they were full of hope 
and ambition, and were willing to undertake the toil and 
privations of pioneer life for the chance to make real their 
dreams of a home on the Kansas prairies. 

The task of turning the bare plains into fertile fields 
was a heavy one, and the brave people who began it en- 
Many drouths dured many hardships and met many dis- 
in the early couragements and disappointments. Se- 

vere drouths were of frequent occurrence 

1. A census taken in 1885 disclosed the fact that nearly 100,000 
Kansans had served in the Union army. 



120 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




A Prairie Stream, common in the western part of the State. 

in the early days and hot winds often swept across the 
country. The year 1869 was dry, with a partial failure of 
crops, and in 1874 came a long dry spell followed in the 
late summer by a scourge of grasshoppers. 

At different times there had been invasions of grass- 
hoppers in the country west of the Mississippi River, but 

none of them was so disastrous as the one 
invas?on! S i8°74 Per °f 1874. The grasshoppers, which were a 

kind of locust, came into the State from the 
northwest and moved toward the southeast. The air was 
tilled with them. They covered the fields and trees and 
destroyed everything green as they went. They left ruin 
and desolation in their pathway. In the western counties, 
where the settlements were new and the people had no 
crops laid by to depend upon, the result was much like 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 



121 



■HBK^i ■*& ^ 


^%3-fflgg *'i.7^^HHJBralc 


1 'i^S &y • 


i 





A Timbered Stream, common in the eastern and central parts of 
the State. 

that of the terrible years of 1859 and 1860. By the time 
of the invasion there were more people, more provisions, 
and more money, and the State was able to do much 
to help the thousands of its citizens who were left desti- 
tute. It became necessary, however, to accept aid from 
the East again, and thousands of dollars and many car- 
loads of supplies were distributed to the needy. Never 
since has Kansas had to ask for help. In more recent 
years our State has given generously to sufferers in other 
states and in other lands. 

This visit of the grasshoppers was prolonged into the 
next year, for they had deposited their eggs in the ground 
and the next spring large numbers of young grasshoppers 
hatched. These destroyed the early crops, but for 




State Governors, 1861-1877 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 123 

some unaccountable reason they soon rose into the air and 
flew back toward the northwest whence the swarms of the 
year before had come. There was still time for late plant- 
ing, and the crops of 1875 were abundant. 

The coming cf the grasshoppers had temporarily dis- 
couraged immigration, but prosperous years followed and 
Prosperous ye?rs P e °pl e were again attracted to Kansas, 
fellow the grass- More of the prairie was turned into farms; 
hopper invasion new towns spran g up . the country came 

to be more thickly settled; railroads, schools and churches 
were built; new counties were organized; and the eld 
stories of "The Great American Desert" were gradually 
forgotten. Kansas was taking her place among the states. 
In order that this great result might be accomplished, 
that the Kansas of to-day might be, a generation of men 
and women had to conquer these vast 
settlers * *** * prairies— prairies that were swept by bliz- 
zards, parched by drouths, scorched by 
hot winds, and scourged by grasshoppers. A few of the 
pioneers gave up and returned to their old homes, but 
most of them were of the sturdy type and remained, al- 
ways believing that the day of better things was to come. 
Though they had little money and few of the comforts and 
conveniences of life, and though they were often filled with 
homesickness for the friends and scenes they had left be- 
hind, they stayed and worked and hoped. Volumes could 
be filled with stories of the hardships and sorrows of those 
brave people; stories of mothers who died from overwork 
or exposure or lack of care, of children who sickened from 
want of proper food, of homes swept away by prairie fires, 
and of homesteads mortgaged and lost. 

But this is only one side. Pioneer life was not all dark. 
Most of the people were strong and healthy, and the out- 
door life with plenty of exercise and simple food kept them 



124 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

so. Although there was privation and hard work there 
was also much of pleasure. Ask any old 
of pionTeTlife settler whether the people had good times 
in those days, and you will hear tales of 
spelling schools and of singing schools, of literary socie- 
ties at which debating was an important feature, and of 
the country dance with its old-time music on the fiddle. 
These affairs were attended by young and old from miles 
around; a trip of from ten to fifteen or even twenty miles 
was not unusual. Buggies were scarce, and most of the 
settlers went on horseback or in farm wagons that did not 
always have spring seats. 

Quilting and husking bees, house-warmings, and camp 
meetings were other events of the early days. Since there 
were no telephones and since it was often days from one 
mail to another, pioneer families counted it a pleasure to 
"visit around" and exchange the news. Those were the 
days of real hospitality; the " latch-string hung out at 
every door," and all were welcome to enter. No house 
was too small nor no food supply too scanty for the enter- 
tainment of friends or wayfarers. Those were the days, 
too, when the children often waited for "second table" or 
stood up to eat because there were not enough chairs for 
all; when the boys wore high-topped boots, the girls wore 
sunbonnets, and a calico dress was good enough for almost 
any occasion. 

In the earlier years the buffalo hunt was one of the 

pleasures of the pioneers. In the fall parties of men with 

„ _ , , ± . their teams and hunting outfits would set 
Buffalo hunting & 

out lor the buffalo range to secure a supply 

of meat for the winter. They were usually successful in 

finding not only buffalo, but antelope, wild turkey, and 

occasionally elk or deer. 

Remarkable stories are told of the great numbers of 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 125 

buffalo still roaming our western prairies forty years ago; 

stories of herds miles in width moving 
oflhrbuffaio 11 across the country. With the inrushing 

tide of immigration the buffalo rapidly 
disappeared. Within little more than a dozen years after 
the close of the Civil War there were practically none left. 
This was not because they were used as food, but because 
they were killed for their hides. Large numbers were 
slaughtered and skinned and the bodies left on the plains. 
The hides were shipped East by carloads, where they were 
sold to make robes. 




Pile of Buffalo Hides Ready for Shipment. 

In a few years the prairies were thickly strewn with 
bleaching bones, and these, too, were gathered up and 
shipped East, where they were ground into 
fertilizer to be used on worn-out farms. 
These bones brought from six to ten dol- 
lars a ton, and money earned in this way served to tide 



Selling buffalo 
bones 



126 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



The trappers 



many a homesteader through the winter. It has often 
been regretted that the Government did not take meas- 
ures to restrict the killing of the buffalo, but the danger of 
extermination was not realized until too late. 

A great deal of trapping was done, especially by the 
younger men. Often several of them would make up a 
party, and with guns, traps, and a win- 
ter's supply of provisions start for a favor- 
ite trapping-ground, where they would make a camp 
along some stream. Sometimes the camp was a tent, but 
more often it was 
a dugout in the 
bank with the 
front part made 
of logs. Along 
the streams they 
caught chiefly the 
beaver, the otter, 
the raccoon, and 
the wildcat, and Coyote - 

on the prairies the big gray wolf and the coyote. The 
busy days were filled with the work of visiting the traps, 
caring for the pelts, chasing wild game, and keeping an 
alert watch for Indians. When spring came and they 
turned homeward to take up the work on the farms 
they often carried with them several hundred dollars' 
worth of furs. 

The population of Kansas was gradually built up from 
many sources, but until 1878 there were not many negroes 
in the State. In that year there began in 
some of the southern states a movement 
among the colored people to migrate to 
western and northern states. So many thousands of them 
left the Southland that the movement came to be called 




The Exodus, 

1878-1880 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAE 127 

"The Exodus." It is not strange that the State famed for 
its fight for freedom should attract many of the ex-slaves, 
or the "Exodusters," as they were called. During the 
years 1878-'80 several thousands of negroes arrived in 
Kansas. A few had teams and some farming implements, 
some had a scanty supply of household goods, but many 
had nothing at all and had to be given aid. A very few of 
them homesteaded land, others found employment as farm 
hands, and the rest settled in different towns of the State. 
The ten years following the grasshopper invasion of 1874 
were all good years. The rains fell and crops flourished. It 
was a period of remarkable growth and 
booitUn n t S he S '80's prosperity. During these years the rail- 
roads were making special efforts to bring 
settlers into the State, and Kansas was widely advertised. 
Reports of the opportunities here stimulated immigration 
and settlements overspread the western prairies. Great 
confidence was felt in the future of the State, and people in 
the East eagerly invested in western land and property. 
Money was easy to borrow, and the Kansas people bor- 
rowed liberally and began speculating in real estate. 
Kansas was soon "on the boom." Property was bought, 
not to use, but to sell again at a higher price. Cities and 
towns laid out additions which were divided into lots and 
sold for large sums. Expensive improvements were made, 
and public and business buildings were constructed that 
were far larger and more costly than the needs of the time 
demanded. Railway and street-car lines were built where 
there was not business enough to support them. Hundreds 
of new towns were mapped out and the lots sold. Many of 
these towns never existed except on paper, and most of the 
others were later turned into pastures or cornfields. 

Since the new settlers were not familiar with soil and 
climate conditions in Kansas many of them selected land 



r\ 




GEORGE T.ANTHON1 



GEQRGE.W.GLICfC 




State Governors, 1877-1893 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 129 

that was not adapted to agriculture, therefore much of the 
farming was not profitable. In 1887 came 

U^ e bo°om!T887 one of the most severe drouths that was 
ever known in the country. The people 
lost confidence in Kansas and the boom collapsed. Eastern 
people wanted their money back, but there was nothing 
with which to pay them. Money could not be borrowed 
and mortgages were foreclosed. People who had bought 
property at high prices, expecting to sell at a profit, found 
themselves unable to sell at any price. Many who had 
counted themselves wealthy found their property almost 
valueless. Banks and business houses failed and hundreds 
of people were ruined. Thousands left Kansas, some of 
the western counties being almost abandoned. The 
year 1887 was followed, however, by several good crop 
seasons. A great deal of attention was given to the study 
of farm conditions and Kansas began to make progress 
again. 

In 1889 Kansas lost about 50,000 of her population. 
This came about through the opening of Oklahoma to 
settlement. The President issued a proc- 
Ok?ahoml nS ° f lamation setting high noon of April 22 as 
the time at which the settlers could enter 
the new country to take claims. The opening of Okla- 
homa had been anxiously awaited for years, and, as the 
appointed time drew near, people from all parts of the 
United States began to assemble along the southern line 
of Kansas. Arkansas City was the chief gathering place, 
for it was at this point that the one line of railroad entered 
Oklahoma. When at noon, April 22, the cavalrymen who 
patroled the borders fired their carbines as a signal that 
the settlers could move across the line, a great shout went 
up, and the race for claims began. Hundreds crowded the 
trains, thousands rode on fleet horses, many rode in buggies 



130 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

and blackboards, others in heavy farm wagons, and some 
even made the race on foot. In the morning Oklahoma 
was an uninhabited prairie, at midday it was a surging 
mass of earnest, excited humanity, in the evening it was a 
land of many people. Within a few days the breaking 
plow was turning the sod on many homesteads, while mer- 
chants, bankers, and professional men were carrying on 
their business in tents or in rough board shanties. The rush 
of settlement to Kansas was remarkable, but the settle- 
ment of Oklahoma is the climax in the story of American 
pioneering. Although Kansas furnished such a large num- 
ber of the Oklahoma settlers, immigration to our State 
from the East soon made up the loss. 

In 1893 a financial panic extended over the whole 
country, accompanied in Kansas by a partial failure of 
crops. Those were dark days in Kansas, 
of h l893 mC ^ or man y °^ the people were still burdened 

with heavy mortgages. But this period 
should be remembered as our last "hard times." Within 
two or three years conditions had greatly improved. The 
twenty years following that time brought almost uninter- 
rupted prosperity. 

In 1898 the long period of peace that the country had 
enjoyed since the Civil War was broken by the Spanish- 
Kansas in the American War. The call for soldiers was 
Spanish-Ameri- eagerly responded to in Kansas, and four 
can War regiments were raised. Our State had 

furnished seventeen regiments during the Civil War and 
two for fighting the Indians, therefore the four for the 
Spanish-American War were numbered the Twentieth, the 
Twenty-first, the Twenty-second, and the Twenty-third. 
The Twenty-third was composed of colored soldiers. The 
only one of these regiments called upon to do any fighting 
was the Twentieth, which was ordered to the Philippines. 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 131 

There, under a Kansan, Colonel Fred Funston, the men 
of this regiment took part in the campaigns that followed, 
and by their bravery and efficiency brought much credit 
to themselves and to their State. The Twenty-third was 
sent to Cuba. The other regiments were trained and kept 
in readiness, but the early end of the war prevented their 
active service. 

The year 1903 is an interesting one, for it marked the 
completion of our State Capitol. Shortly after the ad- 
mission of Kansas to the Union the people 
Capitol** selected Topeka as the seat of govern- 

ment. As soon as the Civil War was 
over and they had time to think about public im- 
provements they began to lay plans for building a capitol. 
Every state has a capitol, or statehouse as it is often called, 
in wh'jh there are offices for the Governor and other state 
officers as well as large rooms for the meetings of the 
Legislature. It is for the state what a courthouse is for 
a county. It should, of course, be a fine building, of which 
the people can be proud. But back in the '60's Kansas 
people were few in number and had little money. They 
could not afford to build a capitol that would be large and 
handsome enough for the future, nor did they wish to con- 
struct a small, cheap building that would have to be set 
aside later. Instead they planned a fine structure to be 
built a little at a time as they could afford it. 

In 1866 the Legislature provided for the erection of what 
is now the east wing of our statehouse. As the State grew 
in wealth and population,' more money was appropriated 
from time to time for the construction of other wings, 
the great central portion, and lastly the high dome that 
reaches nearly three hundred feet into the air. The build- 
ing was completed in 1903, having been thirty-seven years 
in the making. It grew as the State grew, costing alto- 




O 



a, 



c^ 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 



133 




The floods 



Senate Chamber in the State Capitol. 

gether between three and four millions of dollars. It is 
fitting that the great State of Kansas should now have 
one of the finest capitols in the United States. 

The people of Kansas had withstood a number of 
drouths, but beginning in 1903 they were, for the first 
time, visited by a series of floods. The 
first one was probably the most destruc- 
tive. Most of the water came down the Kansas River 
from the tributaries draining central and western Kansas, 
where there had been heavy rainfall. Farms and towns 
along these streams were flooded, property was swept 
away, and a number of lives were lost. Topeka, Law- 
rence, and Kansas City, where portions of the cities were 
inundated for days, suffered heavy losses. The following 




u 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 135 

year nearly every stream in the State poured a flood of 
water down its valley, and many people had to flee to the 
hills for safety. In 1908, for the third time in five years, 
Kansas was again visited by high water. The loss oc- 
casioned by these floods amounted to many millions of 
dollars, but help poured in to the sufferers from many 
sources and they straightway began the work of repairing 
and rebuilding. In a short time all traces of the calamity 
had disappeared. 

Stories of floods in Kansas have been handed down 
from far-off Indian days, but the earliest flood of which 
there is any account was in 1844. The Indians told the 
white men about it and advised against building close to 
the rivers, but no attention was paid to the warning. Since 
the recent floods, however, a number of people have moved 
back from the streams. A few of the cities, including 
Topeka, Lawrence, and Kansas City, have built dikes, 
bridges have been lengthened to give streams more room, 
and several railroad grades have been raised above the 
danger line. 

While the floods caused much loss and suffering, the 

State's resources had become so great that the condition 

of general prosperity was not seriously 
Kansas to-day & t^ u r. jj j 4. ,1. 

affected, kacn year has added to the 

prosperity and progress of the State until now, at the close 

of the half century since the Civil War, Kansas is one of 

the great states of the Union. We have only to look about 

us to see how marvelously conditions have changed since 

pioneer days. Great fields and orchards are spread over 

what was once the Indians' hunting ground, and cattle 

have taken the place of the roving herds of buffalo. 

Steam plows now turn the soil where once there was 

only buffalo grass, thriving towns and cities stand where 




State Governors, 1893-1914 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 137 

once the tepee stood, and shining rails of steel mark the 
paths of Indian ponies and emigrant trains. 

All these things have been done within a single genera- 
tion. Thousands of the men and women who came into 
Kansas in their wagons and drove across the unfenced 
plains are still among us, but now when they journey over 
the same country they go in swiftly moving trains or auto- 
mobiles. Where once they saw only the prairie and a few 
settlers' cabins they now see roads and bridges, farms and 
ranches, stores, banks, mills, mines, and factories. They 
see what they have helped to build, a great state, and they 
may well be proud of it. By their unconquerable faith and 
courage and their unremitting toil they have made Kansas 
what it is to-day. 

As the pioneers look at their State they see not only the 
acres that have been brought under cultivation, the wealth 
that has been produced, but they see a 
S°Kan^s nt state government that is one of the most 
advanced in the Union. Many measures 
have been passed to promote the welfare of the people. 
Among the important ones are: the child-labor law, the 
truancy law, the anti-cigarette law, the law providing for 
juvenile courts, laws pertaining to public health, the 
fire-escape law, the "Blue Sky" law, the primary-election 
law, and the law governing public utilities. These are 
only a few, but among the hundreds of measures that have 
been passed, affecting the character of our government, 
none stand out more prominently than the two amend- 
ments to our constitution providing for prohibition and 
for woman suffrage. 

Temperance was a live topic in Kansas from the begin- 
ing; even in Territorial days laws were passed that tended 
to regulate, in some degree, the liquor traffic. During 
the first eighteen years of statehood there was a constant 



138 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

increase in sentiment favorable to prohibition, and, in 
1880, during the administration of Gov- 

m' Kansas" ern0r J ° hn P ' St * J ° hn ' the PGOple V ° ted 

to adopt the following amendment to the 
Constitution: "The manufacture and sale of intoxicating 
liquors shall be forever prohibited in this State, except for 
medical, scientific, and mechanical purposes." The law 
has been strengthened from time to time, and more atten- 
tion has been given to its enforcement, until to-day Kansas 
is one of the strictest of prohibition states, and the popular 
sentiment against the use of liquor is stronger here, per- 
haps, than anywhere else in the United States. For many 
years Kansas stood almost alone as a prohibition state, 
but in recent years the number of prohibition states has 
been increasing rapidly and the movement gives promise 
of becoming nation wide. It is a matter of pride in Kansas 
that ours was a pioneer state in this great movement. 

Kansas has been one of the most liberal of the states in 
its laws concerning the rights of women, but it is only 

recently that Kansas women have had full 
Woman suffrage .... . . , , T -, 0/ *-, 

political rights. In 1861 women were given 

the right to vote in district school elections, and in 1887 
in city elections. The question of complete woman suf- 
frage was voted upon and defeated in 1867, and again in 
1894, but in 1912 it carried by a large majority. Only six 
states, Colorado, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Washington, and 
California, preceded Kansas in granting to women the 
right of suffrage. 

In the present chapter we have touched only in a general 
way upon the State's progress, but growth has been in 
many directions and each activity has a history of its own. 
In order that we may better understand the advancement 
that has been made we will study more fully three of the 



THE HALF CENTURY SINCE THE CIVIL WAR 139 

most important phases of the State's progress and devel- 
opment — transportation, industry and education. 

SUMMARY 

The fifty years since the Civil War have been eventful 
ones. The Indian troubles on the frontier lasted from 1864 
until 1869. Much property and more than 1000 lives were 
lost. National troops and a regiment of Kansas soldiers 
were required to quell the trouble. Governor Crawford 
resigned his position and took command of the Kansas 
troops. In 1878-'80 thousands of negroes arrived in 
Kansas. This movement from the South was called the 
" Exodus." The grasshopper invasion in 1874 was followed 
by ten years of prosperity. Then came the boom, which 
was ended by the drouth in 1887. Eastern money-lenders 
hold thousands of Kansas mortgages, and though several 
good crop years followed, the State had not yet recovered 
when the panic in 1893 brought renewed trouble. Good 
crops followed, and Kansas soon entered upon a period of 
prosperity which has continued to the present time. 
Kansas furnished four regiments for the Spanish-American 
War in 1898. The State Capitol which was begun in 1866 
was completed in 1903. The years 1903, 1904, and 1908 
were the flood years. Among the many important gov- 
ernmental measures are the prohibition and woman 
suffrage amendments. During the half century since the 
Civil War Kansas has become a great and prosperous 
state. 

REFERENCES 

Andreas, History of Kansas, Selected Topics. 
Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics. 
Parrish, The Great Plains. 
Wright, Dodge City, the Cowboy Capital. 
Crawford, Kansas in the Sixties. 
Spring, Kansas, chap. iv. 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 168, 172-173, 184, 194, 204, 211, 
218-222. 

Historical Collections, Selected Topics. 
McCarter, Price of the Prairie. (A novel.) 



140 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

QUESTIONS 

1. What were the conditions in Kansas at the close of the 
Civil War? 

2. Give an account of the Indian troubles in Kansas. 

3. How did the Homestead Law affect immigration? 

4. Give an account of the grasshopper invasion and its effect 
on Kansas. 

5. What progress was made during the next ten years? 

6. What effect did the railroads have on immigration? 

7. When was the "boom"? Describe conditions during the 
boom. What were some of its causes? What endedlt? 

8. What was the effect of this boom on Kansas? What have you 
learned from talking with persons who lived here in the "boom 
days"? 

9. Tell something of the "hard times" of the early '90's. 

10. What part did Kansas take in the Spanish-American War? 

11. Give an account of the building of the State Capitol. 

12. Give an account of the floods in Kansas. 

13. Give an account of the opening of Oklahoma. How did it 
affect Kansas? 

14. Compare Kansas to-day with Kansas as it was fifty years 
ago. 

15. What is the prohibition amendment? The woman suffrage 
amendment? 



CHAPTER XV 

THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 

Agriculture, the leading indusW of our State, was for 
many years almost the only occupation of our people. 
The Indians were the first farmers in 
Kansas' farmers Kansas. The Comanches, in the western 
part of the State, were roving hunters, but 
the eastern Indians had permanent homes and tilled the 
soil. They were both hunters and farmers. A government 
agent in describing their mode of living says: "They raise 
annually small crops of corn, beans, and pumpkins. These 
they cultivate entirely with the hoe, in the simplest man- 
ner. Their crops are usually planted in April, and receive 
one dressing before they leave their villages for the sum- 
mer hunt in May." 

When Kansas was made an Indian country the National 
Government agreed in the treaties to supply the Indians 
Agriculture w ^ n ca ^tle, hogs, and farming implements, 

taught to the and to employ persons to teach them agri- 
Indians culture. In accordance with this agree- 

ment several government farms were established and both 
the government farmers and the missionaries taught agri- 
culture to the Indians. By the time Kansas was organized 
as a Territory, in 1854, there were a number of farms in 
the different reservations and at the missions, and the 
produce was such as to show that the soil of Kansas is 
remarkably fertile. 

Most of the early settlers of Kansas were farmers, but 
during Territorial days the political and governmental 

(141) 



142 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



troubles made much progress in farming impossible. The 
Agriculture terrible season of 1860 made a dreary clos- 



during 
Territorial days 



ing for this period and confirmed in the 
minds of many eastern people the old 
idea that Kansas was fit only for Indians, buffaloes, and 
prairie dogs. 

The year following the drouth brought a good crop, 
but it also brought the beginning of the Civil War which 
Agriculture absorbed the energies of the settlers for 

during four years more. It was not until the close 

the Civil War of the war ^ in lg65 ^ that agr iculture can be 

said to have had a real beginning in Kansas. But, in spite 

of the poverty and hardships of 
the war years, two things of 
especial significance were done 
that showed the interest of the 
pioneers in agriculture. During 
this period the Agricultural Col- 
lege at Manhattan was estab- 
lished, and the State Agricultural 
Society was formed. The object 
of the Society was "to promote 
the improvement of agriculture 
and its kindred arts throughout 
the State of Kansas." Under its 
management a state fair was 
held at Leavenworth in 1863, 
and in that year the Legislature 
appropriated $1000 for the ben- 
efit of the Society. These events 
are worthy of note, because they 
showed the enterprise of the 
people when their resources were 
Hand Planter. small. 




THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 



143 



Early farming 
implements 



The farming implements of the pioneers were few and 
simple. Much of the machinery of to-day had not then 
been invented. Because of the cost of 
transportation, and the lack of money 
among the settlers, even the machinery 
of that day was scarce in Kansas. The all-important 

implement was the 
plow. The pio- 
neer's first crop was 
usually "sod corn." 
The field was pre- 
pared with a break- 
ing plow, which 
threw up the sod in 
parallel strips from 
two to five inches in 
thickness. Then 
the farmer, with an 
ax or a spade and a 
bag of seed corn, 
walked back and 
forth across the 
field, prying apart 
cr gashing the sod 
at regular intervals 
and dropping into 
each opening three 
or four grains of 
corn. Then he 
waited for the crop. 
Once the land 
was broken, it was, 
in after years, pre- 











m 


If 


j4- r _ 


Sfc A 


^a0M0/M 





The "Old Mill" at Lawrence, erected in 
1863. This was a gristmill, an octagon 
shaped, four-story structure, having a 
genuine Holland windmill for motive 
power. Additional buildings were 
erected for the manufacture of wagons 
and farming implements. The mill was 
abandoned many years ago, and in 1905 
it burned. 



144 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



pared for the seed with the stirring plow and the harrow, 
and planting was done with a hand planter. Later the 
corn planter drawn by a team came into use. This ma- 
chine required a driver, and another person to work the 
lever that dropped the corn. Then came the planter with 
the check-rower which, when attached to the planter, made 
only a driver necessary. During the last few years the 
lister has come into very general use. 

The early settlers cultivated their corn with a single- 
shovel cultivator drawn by one horse. With this culti- 




Corn Binder. 

vator it was necessary to make a trip along each side of 
every row of corn. The double-shovel cultivator soon 
came into use, but it, also, was drawn by one horse and 
cultivated but one side of the row at a time. This labor 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 145 

was greatly reduced by the invention of the cultivator 
drawn by a team and having shovels for both sides of the 
corn row. Now cultivators may be had that till two rows 
at a time. Formerly the farmer cut all of his corn by hand 
with a knife. Now he uses the riding corn binder. 

Great as has been the improvement in corn machinery, 
even greater changes have come about in the machinery 




Heading Wheat. 

used for the wheat crop. The earliest harvesting imple- 
ment used in Kansas was the cradle, a scythe with long 
fingers parallel with the blade to catch the grain as it was 
cut. The cradler laid the grain in rows. A second man 
followed with a rake and gathered the wheat into small 
piles which he tied into bundles, using some of the straw 
for bands. The next machine was the reaper, which car- 
ried two men, one to drive the team and one to push off 
the wheat whenever enough had been cut to make a bundle. 
The reaper required four or five binders to follow it. It 
was soon improved by being made self-dumping and later 
self -binding. Inventions and improvements have followed 
in rapid succession, and to-day the planting and harvesting 
of wheat can be done with remarkable speed and efficiency. 
The many wonderful inventions in farm machinery have 



146 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



made possible in the farming of to-day a great saving of time 
and labor as compared with the farming of forty years ago. 
There are few lines in which greater progress has been made. 
For several years after the Civil War the population of 
Kansas increased more rapidly than did the crops, and the 
Agriculture country was kept poor. The destruction 

of crops by the grasshoppers in 1874 
retarded immigration and left the people 
discouraged. Several good crop years followed, however, 
and confidence in the agricultural future of Kansas soon 



between 1860 
and 1880 




Steam Plow. 

returned. By 1880 nearly 9,000,000 acres of land were in 
cultivation, a third of which was planted to corn and a 
fourth to wheat. The next largest acreage was in oats. A 
number of other crops were reported, including rye, barley, 
buckwheat, sorghum, cotton, hemp, tobacco, broom corn, 
millet, clover, and blue grass. At that time not a great deal 
was known of the soil or climate of the State, and we find 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 147 




Alfalfa. 

in this list of crops several that have since been found un- 
profitable and are no longer raised in any considerable 
quantities. 

The year 1880 found the people of Kansas full of hope 
and courage, and from that time until the drouth of 1887 
agriculture developed rapidly. It was a 
1 88070*1887 r ° m period of new ideas and new methods. 
Millions of additional acres were brought 
into cultivation. The principal crops, corn, wheat, and 
oats, were each greatly increased. Fields of timothy, 
clover, orchard grass, and blue grass were planted in the 
central counties, and even farther west. Soil that a few 
years before had been considered unfit for farming was now 
producing large crops. The State was being rapidly 
settled, many miles of railroad were in operation, and the 
excellent crops did much to encourage the "boom" of 1885 
to 1887. 

The period of good crops following the dry season of 
1887 lasted for five years, and it was a time of great ac- 
tivity along many lines of agricultural ad- 
W87 C ™ l o tU l893 0m vancement. By 1890 nearly 16,000,000 
acres had been brought under cultivation. 
This area was almost double the area under cultivation 
ten years earlier. 

Before 1890 most of the farming was done in the eastern 
and central parts of the State, the western part being con- 



148 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




Irrigation from the underflow. Upper, water pumped into 
the reservoir by windmills. Lower, water pumped into the 
reservoir by an engine. 



Western Kansas 



sidered poorly adapted to agricultural purposes. During 
the next few years, however, it was shown 
that wheat can be successfully raised clear 
to the Colorado line. The sorghum crops also proved to 
be well adapted to this section. The soil of western Kan- 
sas was found to be wonderfully fertile, needing only 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 149 

moisture to make it produce abundantly. A more thor- 
ough understanding of soil and climate has brought better 
methods of tillage, and this, together with a careful selec- 
tion of crops, is making the yield much larger and more 
certain. 

The possibilities of irrigation for this section of the 
country have long been given much consideration. For 

several years water from the Arkansas 
western Kansas Ri yer was successfully used. Colorado, 

however, in developing irrigation, used so 
much of the water from the upper Arkansas that there was 
not a sufficient amount left for our State. Investigation 
resulted in the discovery of an underground water supply. 
This water, which is called the underflow, moves east- 
ward from the Rocky Mountains through strata of gravel 
and sand. It offers to a large part of western Kansas a 
practically inexhaustible supply of water for irrigation. 
Wells are bored into this underflow and the water is 
pumped for irrigating purposes. Only a small part of 
western Kansas is under irrigation as yet,, but experiments 
for the purpose of finding the best methods of utilizing 
the underflow are being carried on by individuals, by 
experiment stations, and by the State. Irrigation by 
pumping is bringing about a remarkable agricultural 
advancement in western Kansas. 

About 1890 several new crops came into prominence in 

Kansas, the most important of which was alfalfa. Alfalfa 

lf is now grown in every county of Kansas 

and has become one of our foremost crops. 
Because of its long, penetrating roots it can be grown suc- 
cessfully without irrigation even in most of the drier parts 
of Kansas. As its many points of excellence become bet- 
ter known its acreage is constantly increasing. Kansas 
produces more alfalfa than any other state in the Union. 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 



151 



Another of the new crops was Kafir corn, which has also 
proved very valuable. This plant is a variety of sorghum. 
Other varieties had been raised in Kansas 
cr0 p S sorg um for many years, especially the sweet sor- 
ghum that could be used for making sugar 
and molasses. Broom corn is another sorghum crop that 
has been grown in Kansas for a long while and is raised 
in large quantities in the southwestern part of the State. 
In more recent years two more sorghums, milo and feterita, 
give promise of becoming valuable forage crops. 

During the early Ws considerable sugar had been made 
from sorghum cane, but in 1889 it was, for the first time, 
made from beets. For a number of years 
experiments were made with sugar beets 
in different parts of western Kansas. To encourage sugar- 
beet raising a bounty was offered by the State and a good 



Sugar beets 




The Beet Sugar Factory at Garden City. 

many tons were raised and shipped to sugar factories in 
Colorado and Nebraska. In 1906 a large factory was com- 
pleted at Garden City and the raising of sugar beets has 
become an important industry in that part of Kansas. 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 



153 



Efforts are now being made to introduce this crop into 
other parts of the State. 

Progress was checked in 1893 by the financial panic 
that extended throughout the country. Values dropped, 
and prices were low. on everything the 
fono4Tng n i y 893 arS farmers had to sell. In addition to the 
panic, Kansas suffered a crop failure in 
most parts of the State. That was a discouraging period, 
but within a few years Kansas had recovered. From that 




A Kansas Wheat Field. 

time until the present there has been a steady rise in all 
values. Owing largely to the fact that there is no longer 
any free land to be taken as homesteads, land prices have 
steadily risen. The price of farm products has also greatly 
increased. In 1893 corn was worth but ten to fifteen cents 
a bushel and wheat from thirty to forty cents. A com- 
parison of these with present prices serves to show how 
great has been the change. 

Kansas is now one of the leading agricultural states of 
the Union. It produces a greater variety of crops than 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 



155 




Kansas Corn. 



does almost any other state, but the principal ones are 
now, as they have been from the earliest 
Kansas wheat days, corn and wheat. In recent years 
alfalfa has come to be a close third. Wheat 
is our most noted crop. Kansas is unsurpassed in the pro- 
duction of this grain. Wheat is grown in every county in 
the State, but by far the greatest quantity comes from the 
" wheat belt" which extends across the middle of the State, 
from north to south. Most of the Kansas wheat is of the 
winter varieties commonly called "Turkey wheats," first 
brought here from southern Russia by the Mennonites 
in 1873. Ours is the only state which grows these wheats 
in large quantities. 

Corn was raised here by the Indians, and from the time 
of the settlement of the Territory corn has been the lead- 



156 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



The corn crop 



ing crop and the greatest source of Kansas wealth. It is 
raised in all parts of the State, but much 
the largest portion is produced in the east- 
ern half. It is on this crop that the great live-stock in- 
dustries of Kansas most depend. 

The live-stock industry is one of the important interests 
of the State. The grain and forage crops, the large areas 
of good pasture, the plentiful supply of 
water, and the nearness to market, all 
combine to make Kansas an excellent live- 
stock region. The raising and fattening of cattle and hogs 
constitute the chief features of this industry, although 



The live-stock 
industry 




Early Day Stock Farm. 

there are a number of others, prominent among which is 
dairying. 

The early farmers had their herds and flocks but paid 
little attention to quality or breeds. In time it was found 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 



157 



«■ 




. 


r^Q? 


if? 




E" w 


E52?t*'jHi 



Present Day Stock Farm. 

that better grades were more profitable, and the early 
range cattle and the "scrub" stock of the pioneers have 
disappeared. 

When the Union Pacific Railroad was built the cattle- 




The Cowboy was a Familiar Figure in Kansas Forty Years Ago. 



158 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



men of Texas began driving their cattle into Kansas in 
order to ship them to market. For many years Abilene was 
the shipping center. When the Santa Fe Railway was 
built, Wichita, being farther south, became the chief 
shipping point. As the country became more thickly set- 
tled the cattle trade was pushed farther west. Finally it 
reached Dodge City which remained the shipping center 




In Full Bloom. 

for many years. The building of railroads into the South- 
west made it unnecessary for the Texas cattlemen to 
drive their stock to a Kansas shipping point, and about 
1885 the practice was abandoned. While the trade flour- 
ished, the cowboy, with his boots and spurs and broad- 
brimmed hat, was a familiar figure on the plains of west- 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 



159 



Horticulture 



ern Kansas, but as the settlers turned the grazing land 
into farms the cowboy moved farther west. 

Another Kansas industry is horticulture, the cultivation 
of fruits. The first orchard in Kansas was planted at 
Shawnee Mission in 1837. Very little tree 
planting was done, however, until after the 
Civil War, and even then the Kansas plains were for many 
years regarded as unfit for fruit growing. The early crops 

were small but of a very fine 
quality, and Kansas apples 
won the gold medal at the 
Centennial Exposition at 
Philadelphia in 1876. This 
aroused much enthusiasm, 
and during the next few 
years many thousands of 
fruit trees were planted, but 
most of them proved worth- 
less because the varieties 
were not adapted to condi- 
tions in this State. Long 
years of hard work and pa- 
tient effort were required to 
secure the knowledge neces- 
sary to make a successful 
fruit state out of Kansas. To-day there are many fruits 
grown here, but it is the Kansas apple that is famous. 
Scarcely a farm in the eastern and central parts of the 
State is without its orchard, and there are a number of 
commercial orchards that are making horticulture an im- 
portant industry in Kansas. 

The farmers of the State have at different times, espe- 
cially in the earlier years, formed a number of organiza- 
tions. An early organization was the Order of Patrons of 




Kansas Apph 



160 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Farmers* 
organizations 



Husbandry, or the "Grange," a national movement, intro- 
duced into Kansas in 1872. Its general 
purpose was the improvement of farm life. 
Many granges were organized during the 
'70's. The Farmers' Cooperative Association, begun in 
1873, and the Farmers' Mutual Benefit Association in 
1883, had for their general purposes the cooperation of the 
farmers in buying and selling and in securing lower freight 
rates. 




One of the Crops of Central and Western Kansas. 

About 1888 the Farmers' Alliance, already a national 
organization, formed many local organizations in Kansas. 
The Alliance demanded a number of measures for the 
betterment of the farmers, including lower freight and 
passenger rates, and better mortgage, debtor, and tax 
laws. The Farmers' Alliance was a widespread movement 
and, for a time, overshadowed all other farmers' organiza- 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 161 

tions. In 1890 the People's party, or the Populist party, 1 
as it came to be called, took over the political work of the 
Farmers' Alliance, and that organization gradually dis- 
appeared. The Farmers' Educational and Cooperative 
Union of Kansas is a more recent organization. 

In 1872 the Agricultural Society, organized during the 
Civil War, was changed into the State Board of Agricul- 
ture. For a number of years this Board 
of Agriculture^ gave especial attention to gathering and 
distributing information concerning the 
resources of the State for the purpose of stimulating immi- 
gration. Later it began the work of furnishing to the 
farmers information concerning methods of farming best 
adapted to Kansas conditions. These activities have been 
continued, and the Board of Agriculture has been of great 
practical value to the State. 

The Agricultural College in its early years laid but little 

stress on agricultural and industrial work, but in 1873 its 

plan of work was changed and it soon 

KrriCollegi 1 " be S an t0 fulfi11 its real mission. A few 
years later the usefulness of the College 
was greatly increased by the establishment of an experi- 
ment station where investigations are carried on in such 
matters as the testing of seeds, the introduction of new 
crops, the rotation of crops, dairy and animal husbandry, 
butter and cheese making, orchard and crop pests, stock 

1. The Populist party was formed as a result of the political 
unrest following the collapse of the boom. The Populist measures 
attracted widespread attention, and the party, in fusion with the 
Democrats, succeeded in electing Governor Lewelling in 1892 and 
Governor Leedy in 1896. By that time conditions in the State had 
become more settled; with returning prosperity the political agita- 
tion died down and the Populists were soon absorbed into the other 
parties. Since that time many of the measures advocated by the 
Populists have been enacted into law or are being considered by 
the people of to-day. 



162 



A HISTOPwY OF KANSAS 



foods, and diseases of live stock. Branch experiment sta- 
tions have, in later years, been established at Hays, Garden 
City, Dodge City, Tribune, and Colby, where problems 
peculiar to the western part of the State are studied. The 
Agricultural College is doing a great work in gather- 
ing information and bringing it to the people by means of 
bulletins, lectures, correspondence courses, demonstration 
trains, demonstration agents, and farmers' institutes. 
Kansas was one of the first states to hold a Farmers' In- 
stitute in connection with its Agricultural College. This 
work was begun in 1869, and the purpose was then, as it is 
to-day, to promote the knowledge of scientific agriculture. 




One of the Early Flouring Mills. 

The agricultural resources of Kansas have led to the 
development of a number of manufacturing industries. 
One of the oldest of these is milling. Among the first 
needs of the settlers of the new country was a means of 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 163 

grinding their corn and wheat into meal and flour for 
Manufactures family use. This caused the building of 
based on small gristmills in every community. 

agriculture Mogt of them were built &1()ng streams 

and were run by water power, though a few of the early 
ones used wind power. In later years steam has come to 
be generally used. After the introduction of the hard 
wheats, the wheat crop came to be much more certain, the 
acreage increased, and the milling industry grew. Kansas 
flour is now sold in all the important markets of the 
world, and Kansas is one of the leading states in the mill- 
ing industry. 

Meat packing has held first place among the manu- 
facturing industries of Kansas for a number of years. 
Kansas City, the second greatest packing center in the 
United States, is the chief market for Kansas live stock, 
but there are several packing houses in different parts of 
the State. Creameries, canning factories, and pickling 
works represent other industries that have been developed 
to make use of our agricultural products. 

Although Kansas is not one of the great mining states, 
it has a number of valuable mineral resources, the chief of 
which are coal, lead, zinc, oil, gas, salt, 
i^dusTr^s™ 1 building stone, and gypsum. These re- 
sources form the basis of an important, 
part of the industrial life of the State. The coal and gas 
have made possible a number of manufacturing industries. 
As early as the Territorial period it was known that 
there were coal fields in Kansas, and small amounts of 
coal were mined in Crawford and Cherokee 
counties. Immediately after the Civil W^r 
the settlers in the southeastern part of the State gave much 
attention to the digging of coal, some of which lay so neur 
the surface that it could be uncovered with a plow. With- 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 165 

in the next few years coal was found in Osage and Leaven- 
worth counties and in the vicinity of Fort Scott. These 
places produced large amounts, but Crawford and Chero- 
kee counties soon came to be the leading coal district of 
the State. At the present time about nine-tenths of the 
Kansas output is mined in these two counties. The im- 
portance of the coal fields of Kansas lies not only in the 
value of the coal, but in the stimulation of the growth of 
manufactures. Many industries can be carried on only 
by means of large amounts of fuel to supply power. The 
development of a number of such industries in Kansas has 
been made possible chiefly by the cheap and abundant 
supply of coal. 

Before Kansas was organized as a Territory lead mining 
was an important industry in southwest Missouri, but 
. , . not until 1876 was it discovered that the 

lead and zinc field extends into the south- 
east corner of Kansas. Prospecting began at once and 
thousands of people were soon on the ground. Although 
zinc was found in abundance with the lead, but little atten- 
tion was paid to it. Within a few years, however, it was 
found that the abundance of coal made the smelting of zinc 
profitable, and zinc soon assumed the leading place. For 
a number of years much more zinc than lead has been pro- 
duced. A large amount of ore from the Missouri mines is 
shipped to the Kansas smelters, and the smelting of lead 
and zinc, but particularly of zinc, has come to be one of the 
most important of our mineral industries. The develop- 
ment of the gas field furnished a cheaper and more abun- 
dant fuel than coal, and much of the smelting was scon 
being done where gas could be used. In later years gas 
is less abundant and there is a tendency to return to the 
use of coal. 

Although prospecting had been done in earlier years, the 



166 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Oil and gas 



real development of oil and gas in Kansas began about 
1892, with the discovery of the big Kansas- 
Oklahoma field. The oil and gas area is 
included within an irregular strip, forty to fifty miles wide, 
extending from Kansas City southwesterly into Oklahoma. 

It is frequently spo- 
ken of as the "oil 
and gas belt." 

By 1900 nearly 
every town in the 
gas belt had more 
gas than it knew 
what to do with, 
and various man- 
ufacturing enter- 
prises, such as brick 
plants, zinc smelt- 
ers, glass factories, 
and Portland ce- 
ment mills, were 
soon attracted to 
these town s . A 
little later gas was 
being supplied to 
cities outside of the 
gas belt. Pipe lines 
were laid to. Wel- 
lington, Wichita, 
Hutchinson, To- 
peka, Lawrence, 
Kansas City, Leav- 
enworth, Atchison, 
and many of the 
With ten years of this great increase 




Oil Well or 
towns between 



Gusher." 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 



167 



in the use of gas there has come to be a fear that the sup- 
ply may fail at no distant date. 

In the earlier years oil was considered of much greater 
importance than gas. At first the oil was all carried in 
tank cars, but a system of pipe lines was soon laid. Many 
refineries were soon established. The crude oil is used 
chiefly for fuel and for machine oil. In the refineries it is 
made into benzine, gasoline, and kerosene. Vaseline and 
paraffin are among the by-products. 

Salt is found in Kansas as a brine in the salt marshes, 
and as beds of rock salt lying beneath the surface. The 
marshes were known to the early hunters 
and settlers, and through the early years 
of statehood a little salt was manufactured from this brine. 
In the late '80's the rock salt beds were discovered and the 



Salt 




Salt Plant at Hutchinson. 



salt-making industry was rapidly developed. The center 
of the salt industry is now, as it has been from the begin- 
ning, at Hutchinson. Salt is found in a large part of 



168 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Kansas, but the most valuable area extends across the 
middle of the State from north to south. This great bed 
of salt is in most places from two hundred and fifty to four 
hundred feet thick. Some salt is made by crushing the 
rock salt, but the greater portion is made by the evapora • 
tion of brines. The brines are obtained by forcing a stream 
of water through rock salt. 




Stone Quarry. 

Brickmaking in Kansas dates from the early years. 
Brick clays are found in many parts of the State, but the 
industry is carried on chiefly in the eastern 
part of the State, especially in the gas belt, 
because of the fuel supply. 

Gypsum beds are found in the central part of Kansas, 



Brick 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 169 

especially around Blue Rapids and in Saline, Dickinson, 
and Barber counties. Plaster of Paris, 
used chiefly for making plaster for cover- 
ing wall surfaces, is made from gypsum. 

Portland cement is a comparatively new product in 
the United States. The development of this industry in 

_, , . Kansas commenced about 1900. Portland 

Portland cement . . , „ , . . , £ 

cement is made irom certain mixtures of 

rock substances, put through processes of grinding and 

heating. Its chief use is in making concrete, which is 

widely used for construction work. There are a number 

of Portland cement mills in the gas belt. 

Gas is the most satisfactory fuel for glass-making and 
since the gas field in Kansas was opened a number of glass 
factories have been established in the 
State. Sand of a good quality for mak- 
ing glass has also been found in southeastern Kansas. 

At present there are numbers of factories in Kansas, 
engaged in many different lines of work. Our industries 
Agriculture the are constantly growing in number and 
basis of material importance and it takes all of them to 
progress make & we ll-rounded state, but it is the 

agricultural industries that form the basis of our pros- 
perity. On these we must depend, and the history of agri- 
culture in Kansas is, largely, the history of our material 
progress. 

SUMMARY 

The principal agricultural industries of the State 
are farming, stock raising and horticulture. The prin- 
cipal mineral industries are concerned with coal, lead, 
zinc, oil, gas, salt, building stone, and gypsum. The 
leading manufacturing industries are concerned largely 
with agricultural and mineral products, and are carried 
on most extensively in the coal and gas regions. 



170 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Drouths, which occur in all agricultural regions, have 
been most severe in Kansas in the following years: 1860, 
1869, 1874, 1887, 1893, 1913. m These years have marked 
into periods what has otherwise been a steady progress 
in agriculture. 

The Agricultural Society, organized during the Civil 
War, was, in 1872, changed into the State Board of 
Agriculture. The Agricultural College, established dur- 
ing the Civil War, began active work along agricultural 
lines in 1873. There have been a number of organiza- 
tions of farmers, most of them between 1870 and 1890. 

Advancement in agriculture has been made in area 
under cultivation, selection of crops, improvements in 
machinery, better methods of tillage, and irrigation. The 
leading crops are now corn, wheat, and alfalfa. 

REFERENCES 

Bulletins and Reports of the State Board of Agriculture. 
Bulletins and Reports of the Agricultural College. 
Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 252-265. 
Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics. 
Old Newspaper Files. 

Historical Collections, vol. XII, p. 60; vol. IX, pp. 33, 94, 480; 
vol. XI, pp. 81-211. 

Walters, History of the Agricultural College. 

Tuttle, History of Kansas. 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 232-234, 292-295. 

Publications of the University Geological Survey of Kansas. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What is the leading industry of Kansas? 

2. Discuss the Indians as farmers. 

3. What agricultural progress was made during the Territorial 
period? During the Civil War? 

4. When and why was the Agricultural Society formed? What 
has taken its place? Tell something of the work of the new organi- 
zation. 

5. Describe the early farm implements and methods of farming. 
What have you learned of these things from old settlers? 

6. What were the agricultural conditions in Kansas in 1880? 
Between 1880 and 1887? 



THE INDUSTRIES OF KANSAS 171 

7. What connection does the date 1887 have with the agri- 
cultural history of the State? What conditions followed this 
date? 

8. What are the soil and climate conditions of western Kansas? 
Give an account of irrigation in that section. 

9. Name new crops that came into prominence about 1890, 
and tell something of each. 

10. What conditions prevailed in Kansas in the early '90's? 
During the period that followed? 

11. Discuss Kansas wheat; Kansas corn. 

12. Discuss the live-stock industry in Kansas. 

13. Give an account of the cattle trade of earlier days. 

14. What progress has horticulture made in Kansas? 

15. What farmers' organizations have been formed? For 
what purpose? 

16. Discuss the relation of the Agricultural College to the 
farmers. 

17. Diseuss the milling industry of our State. The meat- 
packing industry. 

18. Name the mineral resources of Kansas. Discuss each. 

19. What manufacturing industries have grown from the 
mineral resources? 

20. What industries are carried on in your community? Are 
any others being considered? 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE RAILROADS OF KANSAS 

About the time Kansas was becoming the highway for 
the Santa Fe trade, experiments were being made in Eng- 

The beginning of ^ an( ^ w ^ n a new invention, the steam loco- 
railroads in the motive. By 1825 a fair degree of success 
United States had been attained# During the next half 

dozen years experiments were carried on in the United 
States, and by 1831 several short railroad lines were in use. 
By 1850 one could travel by rail between the chief cities 
of the East and as far west as St. Louis, but a decade more 
passed before any railroads were built in Kansas. 

The agitation for railroads in this part of the country 
began even before the organization of the Kansas Terri- 
tory. The settlers knew the difficulty of 
de^TraUroadl building up the State without the aid of the 
railway. They had crept across the prai- 
ries in their canvas-covered wagons, or had toiled up the 
shallow, sluggish waterways, and they foresaw that they 
would be unable to market their crops or their stock be- 
cause of the lack of adequate means of transportation. 
Their great desire for railroads is made evident by the 
large number of railway charters granted to different com- 
panies by the Territorial Legislatures. On account of the 
immense cost of railroad construction, however, work was 
slow to begin. 

While the West was waiting for its railroads a number 
of stage routes for carrying mail and passengers were 
established. The first one was over the Santa Fe Trail. 

(172) 



THE RAILROADS OF KANSAS 



173 



Early stage lines 



Stages made the trip from Kansas City to Santa Fe in 
about fifteen days. For many years stage 
lines were operated between the different 
towns of the Territory. Later, lines were established to 
Denver, to Salt Lake, and even to San Francisco. 




Stage Coach. 

The trip to San Francisco, a distance of about 2000 
miles, occupied nearly a month, and the people of Califor- 
nia were very anxious that a quicker way 
Express! y i859-'6i °^ getting their mails be devised. To meet 
this demand the Pony Express was estab- 
lished in 1859. The line extended from St. Joseph to San 
Francisco, a long, lonely way across plains and deserts and 
over mountains, sometimes in a straight line but often 
winding through dark canons or along the edge of mountain 
precipices. The Pony Express required one hundred and 
ninety stations, nearly five hundred horses, and eighty 
riders. The stations averaged about ten miles apart. The 



174 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

horses were selected for their speed and endurance, and the 
distance from one station to another was covered in the 
shortest possible time. At each station a fresh horse was 
waiting and the only delay was in changing the mail pouch 
from one horse to the other. The pouch contained only 
letters, and they were written on the thinnest of paper to 
avoid surplus weight. Five dollars was charged for the 
carrying of each letter. The first trip was made in ten 
days, the shortest one in seven days and seventeen hours. 
Many stories of adventure are related of the two years in 
which the Pony Express was in operation. In 1861 a tele- 
graph line was constructed across the continent, which 
made it possible to flash news from ocean to ocean in a few 
seconds, and the Pony Express went out of existence. 

By this time railroad building had begun in Kansas. 
The first road was laid in the spring of 1860, while Kansas 

was still a territory, between Elwood, oppo- 
JnKa™l™%lo d site st - Joseph, Missouri, and Marysville. 

When the first five miles of rail had been 
laid, a little old locomotive that had done service on many 
eastern roads was brought into the State and a celebration 
was held in honor of the first trip. Though the engine was 
old and drew only a few flat cars over the rough and 
crooked track, it was an important event, for it marked 
the beginning of railroad building in Kansas. 

There had long been talk of a railroad to the Pacific 
coast, and in 1862, while the Civil War was still in prog- 
The Union ress > Congress granted a charter for such 

Pacific Railroad, a line. This was the beginning of the 
i862-'69 Union Pacific Railroad. It was to be built 

as soon as possible by working from both ends. From 
the east the road was to pass through Nebraska and on 
toward Salt Lake, and from the west it was to be built 
from San Francisco eastward until the two lines met. This 



THE RAILROADS OF KANSAS 



175 




The Indian, the Soldier, and the Builder. 

road did not pass through Kansas, but while it was being 
constructed a line that later became a part of the Union 
Pacific 1 system was built from Kansas City westward, 
along the Kansas River, through Manhattan, Junction 
City, and Salina, and on west through Denver to join the 
main line at Cheyenne. 2 

During the seven years spent in building this railroad 
many difficulties were met and conquered. Most of the 
country along the line was without timber, fuel, or any of 
the necessary supplies. The materials for construction 
were brought up the Missouri River by steamboat to 
Kansas City. From this point they were hauled by train 
over the new railroad as far as it was completed. The 
Indians opposed the work because it meant the westward 



1. This line was at first called the Kansas Pacific. 

2. See map, page 28. 



176 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




Early Days on the Union Pacific. 

movement of civilization and the settling of their hunting 
grounds. They were a constant source of danger to the 
whole frontier but especially to the railroad builders. The 
men usually went to their work armed, and stacked their 
guns ready for instant use. Sometimes it was even neces- 
sary to guard the men with troops while they worked. 
History gives many accounts of Indian massacres com- 
mitted along the line of the Union Pacific Railroad. The 
entire line was finished in 1869. 

In the meantime other lines had been chartered through 
Kansas, the principal one being the Atchison, Topeka & 
Santa Fe. This railroad was begun at 
Topeka in 1868 and completed to the 
western boundary of the State in a little 
more than four years. The line between 
Topeka and Atchison was also completed within this 
period. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe has since 



The Atchison, 
Topeka & 
Santa Fe, com- 
pleted in 1872 



THE RAILROADS OF KANSAS 



177 




The "Iron Trail" Across the Prairies. 

been extended westward to the coast and eastward to 
Chicago, and many branches have been added. This 
railroad follows the general direction of the Santa Fe Trail 
across the eastern half of the State. Near Great Bend the 
track runs on the exact course of the old highway, and 
from this point on through the rest of the State they are 
never far apart and often coincide. When, in 1872, the 
u Santa Fe," as it is generally called, was completed 
through Kansas, the last caravan of wagons had wound 
its way over the old Trail. The trains of cars rushing 
over the new iron trail marked another advance in the 
westward march of civilization. 

The immense cost of railroad construction, the sparsely 
settled country, and the limited amount of traffic, made the 
early building of railroads a risky undertaking. But rail- 



178 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

roads were needed in order to unite the West to the 

Railroad com- ^ ast as we ^ as ^ or the development of 
panies receive the new country, and in order to encour- 
land grants age thdr building Congress adopted the 

policy of making liberal land grants to railroad companies. 
The Union Pacific through Kansas was given land amount- 
ing to a strip ten miles wide on each side of its line. Several 
other companies, including the Atchison, Topeka & Santa 
Fe, received grants amounting to five miles on each side. 
This policy brought about the rapid building of rail- 
roads, but when the State became fairly well supplied the 
land grants were discontinued. Much of the land was 
later forfeited by the companies through failure to meet 
the conditions of their grants. 

When the early railroads were first built across Kansas 
there were but few people living in the western part of the 

„ ., , State. Since population was necessary to 

Railroad com- ^ ^ , , ., , 

panies interested the prosperity ol the railroad companies, 

in the settlement these companies gave much attention to 
the matter of increasing the settlements 
along their lines. They sent land agents throughout the 
United States and Europe, they invited people of promi- 
nence to join excursions through Kansas, and they filled 
the newspapers with descriptions of the great West. 
Kansas was widely and favorably advertised. Interest 
was everywhere aroused and many people were attracted 
to the State. 

The railroad companies succeeded in planting a number 
of colonies of foreigners on their lands. Among them were 
the settlements of Mennonites in Reno, 
Segments Harvey, Marion and McPherson counties. 

These people came from Russia for reli- 
gious freedom. "They came simultaneously with the 
grasshoppers but outstayed them." The first party, in 



THE RAILROADS OF KANSAS 179 

1874, numbered 1900 people, and many more followed 
rapidly until there are now many thousands of these people 
in Kansas. They brought a considerable amount of money 
with them and were able to purchase their land. The 
Mennonites were farmers, a thrifty, industrious people 
who have contributed much toward making Kansas a 
great agricultural State. 

Swedes had been coming to Kansas since Territorial 
days. In 1871 the Union Pacific sold a large tract of land 
in Saline County for a Swedish settlement. 
segments Tnis settlement has increased and others 

have been formed until there are now many 
people of this nationality in Kansas. Lindsborg, almost 
entirely Swedish, is their religious and social center. It is 
noted for its school of music. Most of these people came 
in poverty, but they have converted the bare prairies into 
fine agricultural districts and have become prosperous 
citizens. They are an industrious, intelligent, progressive, 
and law-abiding people. 

Other colonies have settled in various parts of the State; 
among these, German-Russians in Russell, Rush, and Ellis 
Counties, Scotch in Republic County, English in Clay 
County, and Bohemians in Ellsworth County. There are, 
at present, people of many nationalities in Kansas. 

Not only did the early building of railroads do much to 
bring about the rapid settlement of Kansas, but it hastened 
Relation of rail- the development of practically all of the 
roads to state's State's industries. For instance, the rail- 
lndustnej roads have made it possible for the farmer 

to market his live stock and his crops. Out of these better 
market facilities have grown the great meat-packing 
centers and the flouring mills. On the other hand, the 
growth of settlements and industries has brought prosper- 
ity to the railroads and they have increased in wealth, 



180 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




A Modern Locomotive and One of 1880. 

equipment, and mileage. Thus the relation between the 
railroads and the State's progress is very close. 

There are at present nearly 10,000 miles of railroad in 
Kansas, most of it belonging to the four great companies, 
the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, the Missouri Pacific, 
the Union Pacific, and the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. 

There has been but little railroad building in Kansas 
for a number of years for the State is now fairly well sup- 
plied. Almost every county now has one or 
regulation more railroads. In the earlier years the 

important thing was to get the railroads. 
Having secured them the matter of chief concern is to 
regulate them. During the late '70's much dissatisfac- 
tion arose because railroad rates were high, and several 
attempts were made to place the matter of rate regula- 
tion under the control of the State. In 1883 a law was 
passed creating a Railroad Commission of three mem- 
bers. This Commission was given a great deal of power, 
especially in regard to revising and establishing rates, and 
in adjusting disputes between the railroads and their 
patrons. Within a few years, through the efforts of the 
Commission together with the increase in business result- 
ing from a growing population, rates were reduced almost 
half. Since its work proved to be of great service to the 
people the Commission was continued. In 1911 the Rail- 
road Commission became the Public Utilities Commission, 



THE RAILROADS OF KANSAS 181 

which has control over all such corporations as railroads, 
electric lines, and telegraph and telephone systems, that 
render public service within the State. 

SUMMARY 

Railroad construction was begun in the United States' 
about 1830. By 1850 railroads reached as far west as 
St. Louis. Many stage lines were established in early 
Kansas. The first railroad was built in Kansas in 1860; 
the line extended from Elwood to Marysville. The Union 
Pacific was built through Kansas between 1862 and 1869. 
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway was com- 
pleted in 1872. In the meantime a number of other roads 
were built. The railroads received large grants of land, 
which they sold to settlers, thereby raising money and in- 
creasing business. They advertised Kansas widely. The 
people soon found it necessary to regulate the railroads, 
and created for this purpose the Railroad Commission, 
now the Public Utilities Commission. 

REFERENCES 

Arnold. Civics and Citizenship, pp. 100-105, 141. 

Maps and Folders published by the railroad companies. 

Blackmar, Kansas, vol. II, pp. 533-548. 

Elson, History of the United States, pp. 475, 618, 818. 

Prentis, History of Kansas, pp. 168-170, 184-186, 191-194. 

Historical Collections, vol. vni, p. 384; vol. XI, p. 529; vol. XII, 
pp. 37,47, 383; vol. IX, p. 467; vol. VI, p. 357. 

Reports of Interstate Commerce Commission and Public Utili- 
ties Commission. 

Andreas, History of Kansas, pp. 241-252. 

Inman, The Old Santa Fe Trail. 

Root and Connelley, The Overland Stage Route to California. 

Spring, Kansas, pp. 306-313. 

QUESTIONS 

1. Give an account of the beginning of railway transportation in 
the United States. What were the conditions by 1850? 

2. What were the early methods of travel in Kansas ? 

3. Why were the early settlers anxious for railroads? What did 
they do to secure railroads? 



182 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

4. Discuss the stage lines. The Pony Express. 

5. When and where was the first railroad built in Kansas? 

6. Tell something of the building of the main line of the Union 
Pacific. 

7. Give an account of the building of the Union Pacific 
through Kansas. What were some of the difficulties that had to be 
overcome? 

8. When was the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe built? Give its 
route. 

9. Name other railroads in Kansas. 

10. Why were land grants made to the railroad companies? How 
did the railroad companies use this land? 

11. Why did the railroad companies advertise Kansas? What 
was the effect on the State? 

12. Locate settlements of foreigners in Kansas. 

13. Show why there is a close relation between the people and 
the railroads. 

14. Why has regulation of the railroads been found necessary? 
How has it been accomplished? 

15. What is, approximately, the railroad mileage of the State? 

16. What lines of railroad in your community? 



CHAPTER XVII 

EDUCATION IN KANSAS 

The first schools in Kansas were the mission schools for 
the Indians. When Kansas was organized as a Territory 

and the white settlers began to make their 
i^Kanslf h °° ls homes here, the education of their children 

became one of their first interests. In the 
summer of 1855 the first Territorial Legislature passed a 
law providing for the establishment of common schools, 
and thus laid the foundation for our public school system. 
In January of 1855, when the town of Lawrence was 
only six months old, a school was opened in the back of 

Dr. Charles Robinson's office. A term of 
schools 6 " 1 ° na school was held in Lawrence every winter 

thereafter. Other towns also maintained 
schools, as did a few of the country communities, but the 
settlers' claims were so widely scattered and the dangers 
during the days of raids and warfare were so great that 
country schools were almost an impossibility during the 
first few years. 

Many of the earlier schools were "subscription schools," 
which means that they were not public schools supported 

by a tax levy, but that the teacher's pay 
sc u ho s C j F s ip Ion came from a tuition charged each pupil 

who attended. 

By 1859, when Territorial conditions had become more 

settled, the Legislature turned its attention to the matter 

of education and passed a set of school laws that has 

served ever since as the basis of our system of educa- 

(183) 



184 



A HISTOPwY OF KANSAS 




Sod Schoolhouse. 

tion. While Kansas was still a Territory, 
fc e h g ooriyftem OUr a few districts were organized and school- 
houses built, and the minimum school 
term was made three months. 

Little educational progress was made during the Civil 
War, but when peace had come to Kansas and the people 
could turn their minds to the needs of their 
c!w? < War fter the nomes ancl communities, schoolhouses built 
of logs or sod sprang up everywhere, for 
the pioneers had brought with them a desire to educate 
their children. Sometimes the settlers did not even wait 
to organize their district, but gathered together and began 
work on their schoolhouse. Where there was a timber 
supply they made their building of logs. On the prairie 
they built it of sod. With the breaking plow they sliced 
out long pieces of sod from two to four inches thick and 
twelve to fourteen inches wide, and these, mortared with 
soft mud, were used like brick to build the walls. The roof 



EDUCATION IN KANSAS 



185 




Interior of Sod Schoolhouse. 

was sometimes of lumber, but often of the sod laid over a 
framework of brush and poles. Whether the building was 
of logs or of sod, the floor was usually of dirt sprinkled and 
packed until it was hard and smooth. As the country 
grew in population and resources these buildings were re- 
placed by others made of lumber, brick, or stone, but the 
little log and sod schoolhouses served the pioneers well. 
They were used not only for school purposes, but for reli- 
gious services and for social gatherings, spelling schools, 
singing schools, and literary societies. The schoolhouses 
were the social centers in early Kansas. 

Although the minimum term was three months, it 
was usually made a little longer for the benefit of the 
smaller children. As a rule the older boys and girls went 



186 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



to school only during the winter months when they could 
be spared from the farms. The work in 

Jione^r^chool^ the schools in those da y s consisted chiefly 
of the three R's, "readin', 'ritin' and 
'rithmetic." In most cases, the pupils started each year at 
the beginning of their books and worked as far as they 
could. This was continued winter after winter until 
the girls and boys were eighteen to twenty-one years 
of age, or even older. There was no such thing as 
graduating from the country schools; the pupils attended 
until they got ready to quit. Since there were almost no 
high schools in the State, few of the children received more 
than a common school education, and most of the teachers 
had no more than that. 




A Present-day Rural School. 

Conditions are quite different in the country schools 
to-day; the minimum term is now seven months, a 
truancy law covers the full term, the work is arranged 
according to a course of study, the qualifications for 



EDUCATION IN KANSAS 



187 



teachers have been raised, and the little box buildings 
are being replaced by better ones, in the 
construction of which beauty, comfort, 
and convenience are considered. The 
work of the schools is changing to meet the changed con- 
dition of the times, and much thought is being given to the 



Changes in the 
district schools 




Consolidated School, with Wagons for Conveyance of Pupils. 

problem of making the work fit still more closely present- 
day needs. It is generally recognized as very desirable 
that boys and girls receive instruction in such subjects as 
music, manual training, agriculture, and domestic science, 
but on account of the large number of classes in the country 
schools very little of such work can be taught. 

Consolidation is generally looked upon as a method of 

bettering conditions in the rural schools. A consolidated 

district is one formed by the union of 

Consolidated sev eral districts. The little district school- 

schools 

houses are replaced by a larger building, 
usually centrally located, to which the children are con- 
veyed in wagons provided for that purpose. With its 
larger valuation the consolidated district can have plenty 
of teachers and equipment and can offer a greater variety 
of subjects. There are a number of consolidated schools 







flE. ' . 






f& IT/' 


#*.**» 


■NflST '■ jk * iik yfaip -#±-' * ' 


p 




^r| 









A High-school Class in Domestic Science. 



irft 



**£ 




A High-school Class in Manual Training. 



EDUCATION IN KANSAS 



189 




A County High School. 

in the State now, and the plan is being considered in many 
communities. The good roads movement will no doubt 
do much to encourage consolidation. 

A number of years passed before there were many high 
schools in Kansas, and in most of the early ones the course 

was brief. Then more and more of them 
hig°h W school he be S an to Prepare pupils for college, and 

this work was for a long time looked upon 
as the real purpose of the high school. In late years the 
function of the high school has come to be regarded as that 
of supplying to the great mass of pupils who will never go 
to college, the best possible preparation for the business of 
life. The course has been broadened to include such work 
as manual training, domestic science, music, agriculture, 
commercial work, and training of teachers. The high 



EDUCATION IN KANSAS 191 

school has grown rapidly in popularity. There are now 
more than five hundred high schools in the State. They 
have been established by cities, by counties, by consoli- 
dated districts, and by townships, and the number is 
steadily increasing. There are still, however, a few sparsely 
settled counties in the western part of the State which 
have no high schools. Much attention is being given 
to the problem of bringing to every Kansas boy and girl 
the privilege of a high school education. 

The deep interest of the Kansas settlers in matters of 
education is nowhere more apparent than in their early 

establishment of institutions of higher 
Mgto lleviiS!g Naming. In the first Constitution, made 

in 1855, one reads, "The General Assembly 
may take measures for the establishment of a university"; 
and again, "Provision may be made by law for the support 
of normal schools.' ' These matters were not lost sight of, 
and almost immediately after the admission of Kansas as 
a state this ambition found expression in the establishment 
of the Normal School, the Agricultural College, and the 
University. 

The State Normal School at Emporia opened in 1865 
with eighteen students enrolled. It used the upper floor 

of the new schoolhouse that had just been 
SchoSs Fmal built for Emporia, which was then but a 

small town. There was no furniture, and 
the equipment consisted of a Bible and a dictionary. Seats 
were borrowed from a neighboring church. But the Nor- 
mal soon had a building of its own. In later years this 
has been twice replaced by a larger and better one and 
many new buildings have been added. 

The Normal School is based on the principle that it is 
not only necessary to know what to teach but how to teach ; 
that there are new discoveries and advances in methods of 



192 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




Manual Training Normal School, Pittsburg. 

teaching as there are in other lines, such as medicine or 
farming. The purpose of the Normal School is to train 
teachers. 

When our State Normal School was established there 
were not more than a dozen other such schools in the 
United States and none that prepared teachers for high 
school positions. To-day there are many normal schools, 
but none larger than ours or more amply equipped to pre- 
pare students for all lines of teaching. The course of study, 
reaching from the kindergarten to the completion of a 



EDUCATION IN KANSAS 193 

college course, places our State Normal School in the front 
rank of institutions of its kind. 

In 1901 the Western Branch State Normal School was 
established at Hays, and in 1903 another branch, the 
Manual Training Normal School, was opened at Pittsburg. 
Each of these has recently been made an independent 
school. The one at Hays is now known as the Fort Hays 
Kansas Normal School. 

In 1862 Congress passed an act providing for land grants 
to states for the purpose of establishing colleges of agri- 
culture and mechanic arts. Kansas was 
CoUegf iCUUuraI among the first states to accept the 
endowment, and the next year Blue- 
mont Central College, a Methodist school at Manhat- 
tan, was given to the State and made the State Agri- 
cultural College. During the first ten years the growth 
of the Agricultural College was very slow. This was 
chiefly due to the fact that industrial education was some- 
thing new and did not receive much attention. The College 
gave only a little work in agriculture or manual training, 
and what was given was merely supplementary. It was 
doing little to educate toward the farm or the workshop. 
In 1873 the school was reorganized. Farmers began to 
be interested in it and to discuss its possibilities. Such 
subjects as Latin and Greek were dropped and agri- 
culture, home economics, and mechanic arts were em- 
phasized. Workshops, print shops, kitchen and sewing 
rooms, agricultural implements, and live stock, were pro- 
vided. This was a very advanced step at that time and 
it aroused some opposition. It was called the "new- 
fangled" education, and farmers who read and studied 
methods of farming were often sneered at as "book 
farmers." But in time people began to view these things 
in a different light. It has now come to be generally 



EDUCATION IN KANSAS 195 

recognized that successful farming requires a broader and 
more varied knowledge than almost any other business, 
and that in an agricultural state like ours nothing is 
more important than the training of its citizens for home 
and farm life. The Agricultural College now occupies the 
position of leadership in the agricultural and industrial in- 
terests of the State, and is one of the largest agricultural 
colleges in the United States. 

The University of Kansas was established by an act of 
the Legislature of 1864, and its object, as given in that act, 

„, TT . .. is to ''provide the inhabitants of the State 
The University ..* * • • , u u i i 

with means ot acquiring a thorough knowl- 
edge of the various branches of literature, science, and the 
arts." The university idea is hundreds of years old, and 
so there was nothing new in the thought of a university 
in Kansas. The University of Kansas was built on the 
flat-topped hill in Lawrence where the first party of free- 
state settlers pitched their tents. It was opened in 1866 
with forty students and three professors. To-day there are 
twenty great buildings on Mount Oread. The central 
department of the University is the college which provides 
a liberal education in languages, sciences, mathematics, 
history and kindred subjects. Besides the college there 
are schools of engineering, of fine arts, of law, of pharmacy, 
of medicine, and of education. Ours now ranks high among j 
the universities of the United States. 

All together, the University, the Agricultural College, 
and the Normal Schools employ about seven hundred in- 
structors and enroll between eight and 
State Schools nme thousand students each year. The 
total annual cost to the people of Kansas 
is nearly two million dollars. These schools, together with 
the School for the Blind at Kansas City, the School for 
the Deaf at Olathe, and the School of Mines at Weir City, 



EDUCATION IN KANSAS 



197 




Schoolhouse used as a Social Center. 



were, in 1913, placed under the management of a board 
of three members called the Board of Administration. 

In addition to the State institutions Kansas has more 
than thirty denominational colleges. A few of the largest 
of these are Baker University at Baldwin, 
Denominational Washburn College at Topeka, Ottawa 
University at Ottawa, Friends Univer- 
sity at Wichita, the Southwestern University at Winfield 
and the College of Emporia. There are also a number 
of business colleges and a few independent schools. 

Besides all the schools where the people of Kansas may 
obtain an education, every effort is being made to provide 
other educational opportunities by means 
Si h |du P c r atiin° nS of extension work, public and traveling 
libraries, and night schools. The State 
Normal School, the Agricultural College, and the Uni- 
versity all do extension work, which means that they offer 
correspondence courses, send out lecturers, and in various 



198 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

other ways carry their work to those who can not attend 
the schools. Many communities maintain free public 
libraries and the State maintains a traveling library. 1 
Night schools are now provided in several of our larger 
cities. An education is now possible to any one who 
really wants it. 

All of this has been brought about within little more 
than a half century, and though there is much yet to be 
done the people of Kansas have every reason to be 
proud of what they have accomplished in the interests 
of education. 



SUMMARY 

Education in Kansas began with the mission schools 
and was one of the first interests in Territorial days. There 
were many subscription schools before district schools 
were organized. The organization of districts began in 
the Territorial period and kept pace with settlement. The 
University, the Normal School and the Agricultural 
College were established during the Civil War. Since that 
time many denominational colleges have been estab- 
lished, the high school has been developed, and many other 
means of education have been provided. Great educational 
progress has been made. 

1 The traveling library system in Kansas was adopted in 1900 
aad is now under state control through a Commission which main- 
tains an office in the capitol at Topeka. These traveling libraries 
are made up of collections of fifty books each, selected in accordance 
with the wishes of the applicant. They are sent to schools, clubs, 
granges, and similar organizations without charge other than a fee 
of two dollars to cover the cost of transportation. The libraries may 
be retained six months, or exchanged at any time for others. 



EDUCATION IN KANSAS 199 

REFERENCES 

Prentis, History of Kansas, chap. XXXV. 

Historical Collections, vol. vi, pp. 70, 114; vol. VII, pp. 167, 502; 
vol. xi, p. 424; vol. xn, pp. 69, 77, 195. 
Catalogues of the State Schools. 
Reports of State Department of Education. 
Statutes of Kansas. 

Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics. . 

Andreas, History of Kansas, General and County Histories. 
Spring, Kansas, pp. 319-325. 

QUESTIONS 

1. What were the mission schools? 

2. When did the settlers become interested in education? 

3. What was done in education during the Territorial period? 

4. What were subscription schools? 

5. Describe the early schoolhouses. Compare them with the 
buildings of to-day. 

6. How did work in the early schools differ from work in the 
schools of to-day? 

7. Give the history of the growth of the high school. 

8. Give an account of the establishment of the State Normal 
School; its growth; its purpose. What other normal schools do 
we now have? 

9. When and where was the Agricultural College established? 
Give an account of its growth. Its work to-day. 

10. What is the purpose of a university? When and where was 
the University of Kansas established? 

11. What is the present enrollment and cost of the State schools? 

12. What is a denominational college? Name some of the most 
important of the denominational colleges in Kansas. 

13. What other opportunities for education have been provided? 




" Of all the states, but three will live in story; 
Old Massachusetts with her Plymouth Rock, 
And Old Virginia with her noble stock, 
And Sunny Kansas with her woes and glory." 

— Eugene F. Ware. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

KANSAS MEMORIALS 

Kansas is a comparatively new state. Nearly all of its 
history has been made within little more than a century, 
and most of it within the sixty years of its 
KansasTistory period of settlement. Few states, how- 
ever, have had a more eventful history. 
From its beginning Kansas has been a place of action. The 
pages of its history are filled with wars and battles, with 
stirring adventure, and with deeds of courage and daring. 
Nearly every part of the State has its places of historic 
interest, and the names of men and women who should 
be honored for good and brave deeds would make a long 
list. 

The people of Kansas are proud of the history of their 
State and desire to preserve it. To that end they have 
taken steps to save a number of the old landmarks, they 
have built many monuments, and have gathered and kept 
many records of the past. 

One of the early landmarks was Pawnee Rock on the 
old Santa Fe Trail, in what is now Barton County. This 
giant rock standing on the level plain was 
a noted spot, for the Trail ran near its 
base, and while it provided a place of rest and safety for 
many a weary traveler, it also afforded a retreat from which 
the Indians could dash down upon the traders. In later 
years much of the rock was torn away for building pur- 
poses and this historic old landmark was rapidly disappear- 
ing. The Woman's Kansas Day Club resolved to save this 

(201) 



202 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 




Present view of Pawnee Rock. 

historic spot, and secured a deed for the Rock and five 
acres of ground surrounding it. On Kansas Day, 1909, 
the women presented this deed to the State. The transfer 
was made with the condition that the State spend $3000 
for improvements. This was done and the preservation of 
Pawnee Rock is now assured. 

The exact site of the Pawnee Indian village visited by 
Lieutenant Pike in 1806 was not known with certainty for 
many years, but was finally found to be in 
Memorial Republic County. It was located through 

the discovery of rows of circular ridges 
supposed to have been the embankments of the Indian 
lodges. 1 An iron fence now incloses about six acres of the 
ground, on which the rings are still plainly visible, and a 
granite shaft stands where the Stars and Stripes first 
floated over Kansas. The monument bears the inscription : 
"Erected by the State of Kansas, 1901, to mark the site of 



1. The place was discovered in 1875 by Mrs. Elizabeth A. John- 
son, who later purchased the land and presented it to the State. 



KANSAS MEMORIALS 



203 



the Pawnee Republic where Lieu- 
tenant Zebulon M. Pike caused 
the Spanish flag to be lowered 
and the flag of the United States 
to be raised, September 29, 1806. " 
The Santa Fe Trail, which was 
associated with most of the early 
history of Kansas, was known 
throughout the 
^aF^ail country, but with 
the settlement of 
the State the old highway was 
growing dim; the ruts were fill- 
ing in, grass was covering the 
broad track, and with the passing 
of those who knew it in the old 
days the true route was in danger 
of being forgotten. To prevent 
this, the Daughters of the Ameri- 
can Revolution began, in the 

opening years 




Where the Stars and Stripes 
first floated over Kansas. 




Santa Fe Trail Marker. 



of the pres- 
ent century, to agitate the 
question of marking the line 
of the Trail through the 
State. In 1905 the Legis- 
lature appropriated $1000 
"for procuring suitable 
monuments for this pur- 
pose." Kansas Day of 1906 
was designated "Trail Day" 
in the public schools, and 
the children were invited to 
contribute a penny each 



204 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Eighty-nine mark- 




toward the fund. They gave $584.40 
ers were purchased. Various 
local organizations added nine 
more, making a total of ninety- 
eight markers. They were 
placed along the Trail from 
the eastern to the western end 
of the State. They bear the 
inscription, ''Santa Fe Trail 
1822-1872. Marked by the 
Daughters of the American 
Revolution and the State of 
Kansas, 1906." A few of the 
markers bear special inscrip- 
tions in addition to this. The 
one at Council Grove has on 
the other side, ''On this spot, 
August 10, 1825, the treaty 
was made with the Osage Indians for the right of way 
of the Santa Fe Trail." 

The old stone building erected at Pawnee for the capitol 
of Kansas still stands on the Fort Riley Reservation. In 
1907 a subscription fund was raised and the 
money used to repair and restore the old 
building so that it will stand for many years as a relic of 
our early history. 

The site of John Brown's battle-field at Osawatomie 
, was purchased by the Woman's Relief 
battle-field Corps of Kansas and presented to the 

State in 1909. 

Each State is permitted to place two statues in the 
Hall of Fame in the National Capitol at Washington. In 
statues in the 1905 one of the Kansas places was filled 
Hall of Fame w ^h a statue of John J. Ingalls, who was 



Santa Fe Trail Marker, with 
local inscription. 



Pawnee Capitol 



KANSAS MEMORIALS 205 

a Senator from this State from 1873 to 1891. In 1913 
the other place was filled with a statue of George W. Glick, 
who was Governor of Kansas from 1883 to 1885. 




Old Pawnee Capitol on the Fort Riley Military Reservation. 

A number of monuments have been erected in various 
parts of the State in commemoration of noted persons or 
Other events. The John Brown monument at 

monuments Osawatomie was dedicated on August 30, 

1877. It bears two inscriptions: "In commemoration of 
those who, on the 30th of August, 1856, gave up their lives 
at the battle of Osawatomie in defense of freedom," and, 
"This inscription is also in commemoration of the heroism 
of Captain John Brown, who commanded at the battle of 
Osawatomie, August 30, 1856; who died and conquered 
American slavery on the scaffold at Charlestown, Virginia, 
December 2, 1859." 



206 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



1 ! 







A splendid monument has been erected 
in Linn County to mark the graves of the 
victims of the Marais des Cygnes massacre. 
At Lawrence there is a monument bear- 
ing this inscription: "Dedicated to the 
memory of the one hundred and fifty citi- 
zens who, defenseless, fell victims to the 
inhuman ferocity of border guerrillas, led 
by the infamous Quantrill in his raid upon 
Lawrence, August 21, 1863. Erected May 
30, 1895." 

A monument has been raised near 
Junction City in honor of the expedition 
of Coronado. There are several other 
monuments in the State commemorating 
the Spanish explorations of 1541-1542. 

Monuments have been dedicated to the 
memory of settlers killed in the Indian 
raids on the frontier, and to men who 
were killed by Indians while engaged 
in construction work on the Union 
Pacific Railroad. 

These are only a few; many tab- 
lets, monuments, and markers have 
been erected in Kan- 
sas, but by far the 
greatest number of them are monu- 
ments in honor of the soldiers of 
the Civil War. Many of these are 
very handsome, and they have cost, 
in the aggregate, thousands of dol- 
lars; but this recognition seemed in- 
sufficient, and it had long been iioped that a handsome 
and serviceable building might be erected as a fitting 



The John Brown 
Monument. 



Memorial Hall 




Marais des Cygnes 
Monument. 



KANSAS MEMORIALS 



207 




Quantrill Raid Monument 

and worthy recognition by the whole State of the honor 
due the soldiers and sailors of the Civil War. The fulfill- 
ment of this ambition finally became possible when the 
United States paid to Kansas an old Civil War debt 
amounting to nearly a half-million dollars. The money 
was used for the construction of Memorial Hall. This 
beautiful structure, built of white marble, stands near the 
grounds of the State Capitol at Topeka. Part of Memo- 
rial Hall is to be used as headquarters for the Kansas 
Department of the Grand Army of the Republic, and 
the rest by the State Historical Society. 

The State Historical Society was organized in 1875. 
From that time until the present the Society has gathered 
and kept books, writings, narratives, maps, relics and other 
matter relating to the history of Kansas. In these 



208 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

collections may be found information concerning the 
explorations, the Indians, the overland 
Historical Society travel, the settlements, and the condition 
and progress of the State in its various de- 
partments. Volumes of clippings, files of newspapers, and 




An old, double-edged, Spanish sword was found in Tinney County 
some years ago and presented to the State Historical Society. 
The sword bears the name of one of Coronado's officers, Juan 
Gallego. On the blade, in Spanish, are the words: "Draw me 
not without reason; sheathe me not without honor." 

thousands of books, provide a very complete record of all 
phases of the State's history. One of the interesting fea- 
tures is the collection of relics, among which are: an old 
Spanish sword supposed to have belonged to one of Coro- 
nado's soldiers; the pistol of the Jayhawker, James 
Montgomery; two cannon used in the border troubles; 
and the cap, saddle, and sword of John Brown. There 
are many Indian pipes, ornaments, implements, arrow- 
heads, and a war bonnet. The historical collections, 
which have increased from year to year, are very inter- 
esting and should be seen by every citizen of Kansas. 
The Historical Society had rooms in the State Capitol 
until the completion of Memorial Hall, when it was 
moved into the new building. Thus Memorial Hall stands 
as a tribute not only to the soldiers but to the entire 
history of Kansas. 

SUMMARY 

In late years Kansas has taken many steps to preserve 
its history. Some of its most prominent memorials are: 
Pawnee Rock; Pike Memorial; Santa Fe Trail markers;. 



KANSAS MEMORIALS 209 

Pawnee Capitol; John Brown's battle-field; monuments 
to commemorate the battle of Osawatomie, the Marais 
cles Cygnes massacre, and the Qumtrill raid. Many other 
monuments and tablets have been erected in different 
parts of the State to commemorate important events. 
Memorial Hall, completed in 1914, was built in honor of 
the soldiers and sailors who served in the Civil War. 
This building provides fitting quarters for the Kansas 
Department of the Grand Army of the Republic, and for 
the State Historical Society which has a large and val- 
uable collection of original historical material. 

REFERENCES 

Blackmar, Kansas, Selected Topics. 

Inman, The Old Santa Fe Trail. 

Historical Collections, vol. xi, p. 253; vol. X, pp. 15, 50, 472. 

QUESTIONS 

1. How long since Kansas became a state ? 

2. What places of historic interest are there in the State? 

3. What places of historic interest are there in your locality? 
Have they been marked in any way? 

4. What have you learned from the old settlers about the his- 
tory of your locality? 

5. Locate Pawnee Rock. Give its early history. Its recent 
history. 

6. Give an account of Pike's visit to the Pawnee Indians. Where 
was the Indian village? How has this event been commemorated? 

7. Give an account of the marking of the Santa Fe Trail. 

8. Locate the old Pawnee Capitol and give its history. 

9. Name as many other memorials as you can and give the 
event which each commemorates. 

10. What is Memorial Hall? Why was it erected? For what is 
it to be used? 

11. Explain the work and purpose of the State Historical Society. 




1 This is but the dawn. We stand in the vestibule 
of the temple. The achievements of the past will 
pale into insignificance before the completed glory 
of the century to come." 

—John J. Ingalls. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE KANSAS SPIRIT 

Kansas is a great State; great in size and wealth, great 
in industries and resources, and great in what it has accom- 
plished. But there are states that are 
larger, others that are wealthier, and 
many that have larger cities, greater population, a longer 
history, and more splendid memorials, so it is not for 
these things that Kansas is especially noted among the 
states. The quality that is the mark of its distinction 
is the character of its history and of its people. 

Any people is, in large part, the product of its thinking, 
its beliefs, and its hopes and desires. This is the lesson of 
Hawthorne's story, "The Great Stone 
^e^nsa^pirit Face «" Through all the years Ernest 
studied the face on the mountain and 
pondered the thoughts that he read there. In time he 
came to resemble the great face, both in its features and 
in the character it expressed. In the same way the people 
of Kansas have become what they are to-day because of 
their thoughts, their experiences and their ideals. We 
often hear it said concerning some act or some effort to- 
ward progress, "That is the Kansas spirit," which means 
that the thing done shows what kind of people the Kan- 
sans are; it is characteristic of them. If, then, we would 
understand what this Kansas spirit is, we must know 
what thoughts and experiences and ideals have had a 
part in producing it. 

Certain characteristics of the people of Kansas are 

(211) 



212 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

largely due to the fact that this was so recently a frontier 
state. Pioneer life, wherever it exists, 
qualities develops the qualities of independence, 

courage, resourcefulness, endurance, and 
democracy. The pioneer has only himself to lean on; he 
learns to take chances, he laughs at adversity, he adapts 
himself to circumstances, and he lives in the future. 

These characteristics are not, however, peculiar to the 
Kansas people, for the early settlers of other states lived 
Qualities that on ^ ne frontier and developed these same 
make the qualities. But Kansas had a Territorial 

ansas spin history which was very different from that 
of any other state and which has left its impress upon the 
people. Other pioneers have had the great task of making 
a state out of a wilderness, but Kansas pioneers had a 
second great task, that of making a free state in the face 
of the most determined opposition. They came to Kansas 
as the Puritans came to America, in the name of liberty. 
They were stern, unyielding, purposeful men and women, 
sure of the presence of divine leadership, and their char- 
acter has deeply influenced the Kansas people. This in- 
fluence has made them hate oppression; it has made them 
demand justice and fair play; it has made them value 
people for their personal worth; it has made them believe 
in the equality of human rights, and in the ability of the 
people to govern themselves. These are characteristics 
of every true Kansan and the qualities that make the 
Kansas spirit. 

This spirit is evident in many phases of the life and 
progress of our people, but it is nowhere more apparent 
Manifestations than m their political affairs and in their 
o/ the Kansas laws. The spirit that made the pioneers 
spiri refuse to submit to the " Bogus Legisla- 

ture" also impelled them to send more than their share 



THE KANSAS SPIRIT 213 

of soldiers to the Civil War. Later, the same spirit led 
the Kansas people to adopt the prohibition amendment 
and to grant to women the full right of suffrage. It 
caused the farmers and other laboring people to form 
organizations for the better protection of their rights. 
In short, the Kansas spirit has manifested itself when- 
ever the people have made an effort to overcome difficul- 
ties, whenever they have tried to secure more justice or 
liberty for themselves. These efforts have sometimes 
been so radical, and the plans offered for the betterment 
of conditions so new and startling as to attract much 
attention in the rest of the country. But Kansas has 
continued to believe in the worth and possibilities of her 
people and to make every effort to bring about conditions 
that will give them the opportunity to rise to the full 
measure of their nature. 

All over the United States there is a growing tendency 
on the part of the people to exercise a more direct control 
The task of their government; to take more and 

confronting the more authority into their own hands. 
Kansas of to-day rpi- ,, , , , , . , . , 

1 his means that the people must be inter- 
ested, active and well-informed. For us, it means that 
the quality of Kansas government depends upon the qual- 
ity of Kansas citizenship. While the task of the pioneers 
was a heavy one, ours to-day is no less great, though it is 
different. Their struggle was to get the soil under culti- 
vation, ours to see that it does not become worn out; theirs 
to get the railroads, ours to use and regulate them; theirs 
to develop new induitries, ours to see that they are carried 
on with justice to all; theirs to establish schools, ours to 
make them more efficient; in general, theirs to build up, 
ours to use wisely. 

Kansas history is not made; it is in the making. We 
study the past that we may learn how to make the present 



214 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

better. Great things have been accomplished but there 
is much yet to be done. The pioneers solved their prob- 
lems, and if we are worthy of the Kansas they have given 
us we will strive to solve ours. We will keep alive the 
Kansas spirit. 

SUMMARY 

The Kansas people have developed the same pioneer 
qualities as have the people of other states; but, in ad- 
dition, their peculiar Territorial history has made them 
believe in a marked degree in liberty, justice, equality, 
and democracy. These characteristics have given rise 
to what is called "the Kansas spirit." This spirit is 
especially evident in the political movements through 
which the people have taken more and more of the control 
of government into their own hands. 

REFERENCES 

Kansas, Carl Becker. 

Historical Collections. Selected Topics. 

Connelley, History as an Asset of the State. 

QUESTIONS 

1. In what things is Kansas great? Name other states that are 
greater in any of these things. What quality distinguishes Kansas? 

2. How can the lesson in the story of "The Great Stone Face" 
be applied to Kansas? 

3. Why does pioneer life develop courage? Independence? 
Resourcefulness? 

4. What effect has the Territorial history of Kansas had on the 
people? 

5. What is meant by the Kansas spirit? What are some of the 
ways in which it has been shown? Discuss each. 

6. Discuss the responsibilities of the Kansas people of to-day. 



THE APPENDIX 



TERRITORIAL PERIOD 

Legislatures 
There were six Territorial legislatures. The first two were pro- 
slavery. Beginning in 1858 the four that followed were free-state. 

Constitutions 
Four constitutions were prepared; the Topeka Constitution in 
1855, the Lecompton in 1857, the Leavenworth in 1858, and the 
Wyandotte in 1859. The Lecompton was the only one that provided 
for slavery. The State was admitted under the Wyandotte, our 
present constitution. It was based on the constitution of Ohio and 
was drafted by men from both parties. 

Capitals 

Several different places served as Territorial capitals. When 
Governor Reeder came to Kansas he kept his office at Leavenworth 
for about two months, then removed it to Shawnee Mission, which 
was used as the Territorial capital until the following spring when 
Governor Reeder named Pawnee as the capital. The Legislature 
remained at Pawnee only five days and then adjourned to Shawnee 
Mission, where the Governor's office was kept another year. In 
August, 1855, the Territorial Legislature selected Lecompton, which 
continued as the capital during the remainder of the Territorial 
period. However, when the free-state people gained control of the 
Legislature in 1858 they made an effort to change the capital to 
Minneola. Failing in this, they met at Lecompton for each session 
and then at once adjourned to Lawrence. At an election in Novem- 
ber, 1861, the people selected Topeka as the permanent capital of 
Kansas. 

The Topeka Movement 

The free-state Government under the Topeka Constitution was 
organized in the days of the "Bogus Legislature" for the purpose of 
uniting the free-state people and enabling them to oppose pro- 
slavery methods. It was continued until the free-state people gained 
control of the Territorial Legislature, when it became no longer 
necessary and was dropped. The principal events were as follows: 
The convention met in October of 1855, completed the Topeka 
Constitution in November, and the free-state people voted favor- 
ably on it in December. In January of 1856 they elected Charles 
Robinson governor. Their Legislature met in March, and in the 
same month they applied for admission to the Union but the bill 

(215) 



216 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

failed to pass. The Legislature met again in July, but was disbanded 
by United States troops under Sumner. They met in January of 
1857, but the officers were arrested. Two additional meetings were 
held; one in January and one in March of 1858. Then, having 
.served its purpose, the Topeka movement was at an end. 



APPENDIX 217 

INDIAN MISSIONS IN EARLY KANSAS 

Presbyterian Missions 

Two Presbyterian missions were established among the Osages 
in what is now Neosho County in 1824. One was the Boudinot 
mission. The work was in charge of Rev. Benton Pixley. 

Rev. S. M. Irwin established a mission among the Iowas, Sacs 
and Foxes in Doniphan County, near the present town of Highland, 
in 1837. Highland College, one of the oldest colleges in the State, 
still remains as a school of this church. 

Methodist Missions 

In 1830 the Shawnee Methodist mission was established a few 
miles southwest of where Kansas City now stands. This mission 
was in charge of Rev. Thomas Johnson. A few years later it had 
a manual-labor school and a farm and was one of the largest and 
best known of the missions in Kansas. 

In 1832 a mission was established among the Delawares in 
Wyandotte County, on the site of the town of White Church, by 
William Johnson and Thomas B. Markham. Rev. E. T. Peery 
was in charge. 

A mission for the Kickapoos was founded in 1833. It was just 
north of the site of Leavenworth and was in charge of Rev. J. C. 
Berryman. 

In 1833 a mission was established for the Kanzas at Mission 
Creek, Shawnee County, by Rev. William Johnson, who continued 
the work for seven years. When the Kanzas were moved, the 
mission was located at Council Grove. It existed from 1850 to 
1854. 

Baptist Missions 

The Baptist Church established a mission among the Shawnees 
in 1831. It was about two miles northwest of the Shawnee Methodist 
mission. The leader was Isaac McCoy, and he was joined later by 
Dr. Johnson Lykins and Rev. Jotham Meeker. Mr. Meeker was 
a printer, and in 1834 issued the first book printed in Kansas, a 
primer in the Indian language. 

A mission was established among the Ottawas in 1837, on the 
present site of Ottawa, under the charge of Rev. Jotham Meeker. 
This mission survives in Ottawa University. 

A mission was opened among the Pottawatomies in 1837, by 
Rev. Robert Simmerwell, near the site of Osawatomie. When this 
Tibe moved to the new reservation the mission was situated at 
Mission Creek in Shawnee County. It was abandoned in 1854. 

In 1840 Dr. David Lykins established a mission among the 
Miamis, about ten miles southeast of the present city of Paola. _ 

Dr. Johnson Lykins opened a mission among the Delawares in 
1832. 

Friends Mission 

The Society of Friends established a mission among the Shawnees 
in 1834, about three miles west of the Methodist mission. Henry 



218 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Harvey, M. Mendenhall, and the Hadleys were teachers in this 
mission. 

Catholic Missions 

In 1822 Father La Croix visited the Osages, just across the line 
in Missouri, and baptized several Indian children. At different 
times Father Van Quickenborn visited the Osages and preached. 
In 1847 Rev. Schoenmaker established the Osage Mission, now St. 
Paul, in Neosho County. 

The Catholic mission was founded in 1836 by Fathers Van 
Quickenborn and Hoeken for the Kickapoos, near the Junction of 
Salt Creek with the Missouri, in Leavenworth County. 

St. Mary's mission among the Pottawatomies was established 
in Miami County in 1838, and moved to Linn County in 1839, 
where it remained until the removal of the tribe to Pottawatomie 
County in 1849. The mission was then established at St. Mary's, 
where it s" Aves to-day in St. Mary's school for boys. 



APPENDIX 219 



FORTS IN EARLY KANSAS 



Many forts were established in early Kansas; a few by the 
fur companies, some by the War Department, some by state troops, 
a number by settlers as a place of refuge from the Indians, and a 
few by free-state and proslavery forces during the Territorial struggle. 
Some of them consisted merely of a wall of earth thrown up, others 
of a strongly built log cabin within a line of earthworks or line of 
palisades. Many of them were more pretentious, and were built of 
logs, adobe, or stone. Some of the forts established by the National 
Government cost many thousands of dollars and most of them had 
large land reserves. As the settlements moved westward the neces- 
sity for the forts no longer existed, and, with the exception of Fort 
Leavenworth and Fort Riley, which are still maintained by the 
National Government as army posts, they fell into disuse. The 
principal early forts were: 

Foit Kanzas, established by the French fur traders in the early 
part of the eighteenth century, was located in what is now Atchison 
County. It is mentioned in the journal of Lewis and Clark as an 
abandoned fort. 

Fort Lyon, earlier called Bents' Fort, was built in 1826 for a fur- 
trading post. It occupied several different sites on the Arkansas 
River, all of them within the present bounds of Colorado, the last 
one being within Territorial Kansas. It was opened to settlement 
in 1890. 

Fort Leavenworth was established in 1827 by Col. Henry Leaven- 
worth of the United States army. It has from its beginning been 
an important military post. More than $2,000,000 has been ex- 
pended on it, and it now ranks among the first of the military posts 
of the United States. 

Fort Riley was established in 1852 by the United States. It has 
been enlarged and improved from tkne to time until it is now an 
important military center. Fort Riley is near the junction of the 
Republican and Smoky Hill rivers, and is very near the geographical 
center of the United States. 

Fort Atkinson, one of the early forts erected along the Santa Fe 
Trail, was located on the Arkansas River about six miles above the 
present site of Dodge City. This fort was built in 1850 and aban- 
doned in 1854. It was known for a few months as Fort Mackey, 
when the name was changed to Fort Atkinson. 

Fort Mann was probably erected about 1845 on or near the site 
on which Fort Atkinson was later built. 

Fort Scott was built in 1842 on the site of the present city of Fort 
Scott. In 1853 it ceased to be used as a military post, and in 1855 
the buildings were sold. This fort had no reservation. 

Fort Larned was located in 1859 on Pawnee Fork, about eight 
miles above the mouth of that stream. It was for a number of years 
an important post, but was later abandoned as a fort, and in 1882 
the reservation was opened for sale to settlers. 

Fort Saunders was a proslavery stronghold about twelve miles 



220 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

southwest of Lawrence in 1856. It was destroyed by a body of free- 
state settlers the same year. 

Fort Titus, located about two miles south of Lecompton, was a 
log house used as a proslavery fortification. It was captured and 
destroyed by free-state forces shortly after the destruction of Fort 
Saunders. 

Fort Wakarusa was a free-state fortification on the Wakarusa 
River, about five miles from Lawrence. 

Fort Bain was a log cabin in the northern part of Bourbon County 
which served as a retreat for John Brown and James Montgomery in 
1857 and 1858. 

Fort Baxter, a military post, was established by General Blunt 
in 1863. It was the scene of an attack by Quantrill, known asthe 
Baxter Springs massacre. After the war the town of Baxter Springs 
grew up on the site. 

Fort Dodge was one of the most important forts on the western 
frontier. It was located on the site of The Caches, near Dodge 
City, in 1864. The first buildings were of adobe, but in 1867 good 
buildings were erected. Fort Dodge was not abandoned until 1882. 
The Soldiers' Home at Fort Dodge was later established on a part 
of this military reservation. 

Fort Downer was located on Downer's Creek, about fifty miles 
west of Fort Hays. It was in existence between 1863 and 1868. 

Fort Harker was established in 1864, near the present site of 
Ellsworth, with the name Fort Ellsworth. Two years later the name 
was changed to Fort Harker and the site moved about a mile north- 
east. This fort was for a long time the shipping point for freight 
bound for New Mexico. Fort Harker was abandoned in 1872 and 
the reservation opened to settlement in 1880. 

Fort Wallace was established near the present town of Wallace 
in 1865. This was an important post during the building of the 
Union Pacific railroad. It was abandoned as a fort in 1882, and in 
1888 the land was ordered sold. 

Fort Zarah was established in 1864, about four miles east of the 
present city of Great Bend. It was dismantled in 1869, and the 
reservation was later sold. 

Fort Hays was established by the National Government, in 1865, 
about fourteen miles southeast of the present Hays City, and was for 
a year known as Fort Fletcher. In 1867 a new site, about three- 
fourths mile from Hays City, was selected. The reservation con- 
sisted of 7500 acres. General Sheridan used Fort Hays for head- 
quarters during the Black Kettle raid in 1868. It continued to be 
used as a military post until 1889. In 1900 Kansas secured the land 
and buildings for educational purposes. The Fort Hays Kansas 
Normal School and an experiment station for the Agricultural 
College are now located there. 

Fort Henning, Fort Blair, and Fort Insley were three block- 
houses erected at Fort Scott in 1861 for the purpose of guarding 
military stores from the Confederate forces. 



APPENDIX 221 

Fort Lincoln was built by Lane in 1861, about twelve miles north- 
west of Fort Scott, for protection from the Confederate forces. It 
was abandoned in 1864. 

Fort Aubrey was one of the forts established in 1865 by the 
soldiers sent to quell the Indian uprisings. It was located near the 
present village of Mayline in Hamilton County. It was abandoned 
the following year. 

Fort Jewell was erected in 1870 on the site of Jewell City for the 
protection of the settlers against the Cheyennes who were then on the 
warpath. It consisted of a wall of earth around a fifty-yard square. 
After the Indian troubles were over Fort Jewell was abandoned. 



222 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

SOME PROMINENT KANSANS 

Hundreds of Kansas men and women have served their State 
in a way worthy of note. To tell the story of the services rendered 
by all of them would require many volumes. In a book like the 
present one, mention can be made of only a few of those most widely 
known. In addition to names mentioned in the body of the text, 
the following are a few of the names of Kansans, no longer living, 
who had much to do with making the history of the State: 

Preston B. Plumb came to Kansas to make his home in 1857. 
He started a newspaper, Kansas News, at Emporia. In 1861 he 
was elected to the State House of Representatives. The same year 
he entered the Union army and served until the close of the war. 
He then engaged in the practice of law. In 1876 he was elected to 
the United States Senate, which position he filled until his death in 
1891, a period of fourteen years of continuous service. 

William A. Harris came to Kansas in 1865, at the close of four 
years of service in the Confederate army, and entered the employ 
of the Union Pacific Railroad Company as a civil engineer. Later 
he became a well-known farmer and stock raiser. In 1896 he was 
elected to the State Senate, and in 1897 to the United States Senate. 
His later years were given to various lines of agricultural advance- 
ment. He served as a regent of the State Agricultural College. 
His death occurred in 1909. 

Samuel A. Kingman came to Kansas in 1857. He was a lawyer. 
He served as a member of the Wyandotte Constitutional Conven- 
tion. He was associate justice of the Supreme Court of Kansas, 1861 
to 1865, and chief justice, 1867 to 1876, when he resigned because 
of ill health. He died in 1904. 

David J. Brewer came to Leavenworth in 1859, where he en- 
gaged in the practice of law. He served continuously in various 
offices. He was associate justice of the State Supreme Court from 
1871 to 1884, a judge of the United States Circuit Court from 1884 
to 1889, and in 1889 he was commissioned Associate Justice of the 
United States Supreme Court, which position he filled until his 
death in 1910. 

John A. Anderson came to Junction City in 1858 as pastor of 
the Presbyterian church. In 1873 he was made president of the 
State Agricultural College. He reorganized that institution and 
remained at its head until 1878, when he was elected to Congress 
where he served until 1891. He was appointed consul-general to 
Cairo, Egypt, in 1891. He died on his way back home in the 
following year. 

Francis Huntington Snow was elected to first faculty of the 
University of Kansas as professor of mathematics and natural sci- 
ences, in 1866. In 1870 he became professor of natural history in the 
University. He organized the collecting expeditions which have 
resulted in the extensive natural history museums of the University. 
He was made Chancellor of the University in 1890, from which posi- 
tion he retired in 1901. He died in 1908. 



APPENDIX 223 

Edmund G. Ross came to Kansas in 1856. He was a member of 
the Wyandotte Constitutional Convention and served in the Union 
army. In 1866 he was appointed to fill the vacancy in the United 
States Senate caused by the death of James H. Lane. He cast the 
deciding vote in the Senate against the impeachment of President 
Johnson, which act aroused great indignation. He engaged in news- 
paper work until 1882, when he went to New Mexico where he 
served as Territorial Governor from 1885 to 1889. He died in 1907. 

Mrs. C. I. H. Nichols, a writer and lecturer, came with her 
family to Kansas in 1854. She lived first at Lawrence and then at 
Wyandotte. She was a strong advocate of a more just understand- 
ing of the rights of women. She attended the meetings of the 
Wyandotte Constitutional Convention, and counseled with the 
members on all matters relating to women, with the result that 
the Kansas Constitution was one of the most liberal in the United 
States at that time. Her death occurred in 1885. 

Mrs. Mary A. Bickerdyke, generally known as " Mother Bick- 
erdyke," served as a nurse during the Civil War. At its close she 
came to Kansas and was instrumental in assisting soldiers who 
were left without employment to come to Kansas and take home- 
steads. Through her efforts aid was given settlers after Indian 
raids, and she assisted in securing aid for Kansas settlers after the 
grasshopper invasion. The Mother Bickerdyke Home for soldiers' 
widows, at Ellsworth, was named in her honor. After a life of 
great activity she died in 1901. 

Alfred Gray came to Kansas in 1857. With the exception of 
his period of service in the Union army he was engaged in farming 
until 1873. From 1866 until 1870 he was a director of the State 
Agricultural Society. When the State Board of Agriculture was 
organized, in 1872, he became its first Secretary, and filled the posi- 
tion until his death in 1880. 

Frederick Wellhouse came to Leavenworth County, Kansas, 
in 1859. He was engaged in the growing and sale of fruit trees until 
1876, when he began planting commercial apple orchards. During 
the next eighteen years he planted 1637 acres of apple trees. Many 
years were given to experiments to determine the varieties best 
adapted to Kansas. He became known throughout the country 
and was called "The Apple King." For ten years he was president 
>f the State Horticultural Society, and was at different times en- 
gaged in many public activities. He died in 1911. 

Franklin G. Adams settled on a farm in Leavenworth County 
in 1856. He held various positions of public service, and on the 
organization of the State Historical Society in 1875 he was made its 
Secretary, which position he held until his death in 1899. He 
organized and developed the work of the Society, in which work 
he was materially assisted by his daughter, Miss Zu Adams, who 
continued her work from 1880 until her death in 1911. 

Mrs. Sara T. D. Robinson came to the Territory in 1854 with her 
husband, Dr. Charles Robinson, and took an active part in early 
Kansas affairs. She wrote Kansas — Its Interior and Exterior Life, 



224 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

the most notable book produced by a Kansan of that time. It had 
a wide circulation and a great influence. Mrs. Robinson died at her 
home near Lawrence in 1911. 

Noble L. Prentis came to Kansas in 1869 as editor of the 
Topeka Record. From that time until his death in 1900 he was con- 
nected with various Kansas newspapers: the Topeka Commonwealth, 
the Lawrence Journal, the Junction City Union, the Atchison Cham- 
pion, and the Kansas City Star. He wrote five books: A Kansan 
Abroad, Southern Letters, Southwestern Letters, Kansas Miscel- 
lanies, and History of Kansas. 

Daniel W. Wilder, who first came to Kansas in 1857, was at 
different times the editor of a number of newspapers. He was one 
of the founders of the State Historical Society, served one term as 
state auditor and two terms as superintendent of insurance. It was 
as a newspaper man that Mr. Wilder's influence was especially felt. 
He was the author of the Annals of Kansas, Life of Shakespeare, and 
was one of the compilers of all editions of Bartlett's Familiar 
Quotations. 

Eugene F. Ware came to Kansas in 1867. He practiced law, 
and was for many years the editor of the Fort Scott Monitor. He 
served in the state legislature, and from 1902 to 1905 was United 
States Pension Commissioner. He died in 1911. It is as a writer 
that Mr. Ware is best known. His Rhymes of Ironquill is his 
most widely read work. 



APPENDIX 225 

KANSAS WRITERS 

The Kansas struggle was the source of a great deal of writing. 
Eastern newspapers were full of the Kansas question. During the 
Territorial period many of the eastern papers kept correspondents 
in the Territory and these men wrote much of the conflict here and 
of pioneer life and conditions. The Kansas people themselves were 
too busy to give much attention to literature and produced but few 
writings of permanent value. Kansas— Its Interior and Exterior 
Life, by Mrs. Sara T. D. Robinson, was written during this period. 
Other early writers were: William A. Phillips, Richard Realf, James 
Redpath, Albert D. Richardson, W. P. Tomlinson, and Henry 
Harvey. 

During the Civil War practically all of the writing produced in 
Kansas was concerned with the struggle that the people were going 
through. The period from the close of the Civil War until the 
'grasshopper year" of 1874 was one of remarkable growth and ex- 
pansion and the people were full of confidence and enthusiasm. It 
was in this period that The Kansas Magazine was published. 
Though it lasted less than two years, it was a magazine of real lit- 
erature. Among the contributors were: Henry King, James W. 
Steele, John J. Ingalls, D. W. Wilder, R. J. Hinton, Charles Robin- 
son, and Noble L. Prentis. 

< The depression caused by the grasshopper raid affected Kansas 
in literature as well as in other activities. For several years but few 
books were published. Two of the books produced during this 
period were, however, very valuable ones: Andreas' History of 
Kansas, a compilation by many writers, and Wilder's Annals of 
Kansas. George R. Peck and John J. Ingalls came into promi- 
nence about this time as orators. Many of their speeches have 
become a part of our literature. Joseph G. McCoy and Joel Moody 
were writers of this period. 

A number of good books were published in the '80's, among them: 
The Story of a Country Town, E. W. Howe; A Kansan Abroad, 
Noble L. Prentis; Rhymes of Ironquill, Eugene F. Ware; 
History of Kansas, L. W. Spring; Anabel and Other Poems, Ellen 
P. Allerton. Other writers of this time were: F. W. Giles, Charles 
Gleed, and Hattie Horner. 

The period following the collapse of the boom, 1888 to 1892, pro- 
duced many books. Some of the most prominent were: Kansas 
Miscellanies, Prentis; The Farmers' Side, William A. Peffer; Let- 
ters, Charles F. Scott; In the Van of Empire, Henry Inman; Richard 
Bruce, Charles M. Sheldon; Old Wine in New Bottles, Bointon W. 
Woodward. During this period The Agora, a Kansas magazine, 
was published. All the best Kansas writers of the period were among 
its contributors, but it Ifred only a short time. Among other writers 
were: Nathaniel S. Goss, Mrs. Mary W. Hudson, Gov. Charles 
Robinson, and John Speer. 

The last twenty years have brought peace and prosperity to 
Kansas and the people have been able to give more time and 



226 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

thought to literature. Many writings have been produced — 
poetry, essays, speeches, newspaper and magazine articles, and 
many books. The following are among the writers who have come 
into prominence in the last two decades: 

Henry Inman, author of: The Old Santa Fe Trail, The Great 
Salt Lake Trail, The Ranch on the Oxhide, and The Delahoyd 
Boys. 

Charles M. Sheldon, author of: Richard Bruce, Robert Hardy's 
Seven Days, The Crucifixion of Philip Strong, His Brother's Keeper, 
In His Steps, Malcolm Kirk, Lend a Hand, The Redemption of 
Freetown, The Miracle at Markham, One of the Two, For Christ 
and the Church, Born to Serve, Who Killed Joe's Baby, The Re- 
former, The Narrow Gate, The Heart of the World, Paul Doug- 
las, The Good Fight, The High Calling. 

William Allen White, author of: The Real Issue, Court of 
Boyville, In Our Town, A Certain Rich Man, and numerous news- 
paper and magazine articles. 

Eugene Ware, author of: The Rise and Fall of the Saloon, 
The Lyon Campaign and History of the First Iowa Infantry, The 
Indian Campaign of 1864, Rhymes of Ironquill, Ithuriel, From 
Court to Court, Several translations from Spanish, French and 
Latin, contributions to many publications. 

William Y. Morgan, author of: A Jayhawker in Europe, The 
Journey of a Jayhawker, A Jayhawker in thp Near East, and 
numerous newspaper articles. 

Margaret Hill McCarter, author of: The Cottonwood's Story, 
Cuddy's Baby, In Old Quivira, The Price of the Prairie, The Peace 
of the Solomon Valley, A Wall of Men, The Master's Degree, Win- 
ning the Wilderness. 

Walt Mason, author of: Rhymes of the Range, Uncle Walt, 
Prose Poems, and newspaper and magazine writings. 

William Elsey Connelley, author of: John Brown, James H. 
Lane, Wyandot Folk-Lore, An Appeal to the Record, Kansas Ter- 
ritorial Governors, Memoirs of John James Ingalls, Ingalls of Kan- 
sas, Quantrill and the Border Wars, and Life of Preston B. Plumb. 

Samuel J. Crawford, author of Kansas in the Sixties. 

William Herbert Carruth, author of Each in His Own Tongue 
and Other Poems. 

Among other present-day Kansas writers are: E. W. Howe, 
F. W. Blackmar, Mrs. Louisa Cooke Don Carlos, Effie Graham, 
W. A. McKeever, Mrs. Dell H. Munger, Mrs. Kate A. Aplington, 
Esther M. Clark, F. Dumont Smith, Charles M. Harger. 



APPENDIX 227 

TERRITORIAL OFFICERS OF KANSAS 

The Governors were appointed for terms of four years, but none 
of them served a full term. Ten different men filled the office during 
the Territorial period of six years and eight months. There were 
six Governors and five Acting Governors, James W. Denver serving 
in both capacities. During the absence of a Governor or when there 
was a vacancy in that office the duties of the Governor fell upon the 
Secretary of the Territory and he was called the Acting Governor. 

Governors Acting Governors Terms served 

Andrew H. Reeder July 7, 1854, to August 

16, 1855. 

Daniel Woodson August 16, 1855, to 

September 7, 1855. 

Wilson Shannon September 7, 1855, to 

August 18, 1856. 

Daniel Woodson August 18, 1856, to 

September 9, 1856. 

John W. Geary September 9, 1856, to 

March 12, 1857. 

Daniel Woodson March 12, 1857, to 

April 16, 1857. 
Frederick P. Stanton. .April 16, 1857, to May 

27, 1857. 

Robert J. Walker May 27, 1857, to 

November 16, 1857. 
Frederick P. Stanton. .November 16, 1857, to 

December 21, 1857. 
James W. Denver. . . .December 21, 1857, to 
May 12, 1858. 

James W. Denver May 12, 1858, to 

October 10, 1858. 

Hugh S. Walsh October 10, 1858, to 

December 18, 1858. 

Samuel Medary December 18, 1858, to 

December 17, 1860. 

Hugh S. Walsh August 1, 1859, to 

September 15, 1859. 

Hugh S. Walsh April 15, 1860, to June 

16, 1860. 

George M. Beebe September 11, 1860, to 

November 25, 1860. 

Auditors 

John Donaldson 1855-1857 

Hiram Jackson Strickler 1857-1861 



228 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Treasurers 

Thomas J. B. Cramer 1855-1859 

Robert R. Mitchell 1359-1861 

Attorneys- General 

Andrew Jackson Isacks 1854-1857 

William Weer 1857-1858 

Alson C. Davis 1858-1861 

Superintendents of Schools 

James H. Noteware 1858 

Samuel Wiley Greer 1858-1861 

John C. Douglass 1861 

Territorial Chief Justices 

Samuel Dexter Lecompte 1854-1859 

John Pettit - 1859-1861 

Associate Justices 

Saunders W. Johnston 1854-1855 

J . M. Burrell 1855-1856 

Thomas Cunningham 1856-1857 

Joseph Williams 1857-1861 

Rush Elmore 1854-1855 

Sterling G. Cato 1855-1858 

Rush Elmore 1858-1861 



APPENDIX 229 

STATE OFFICERS OF KANSAS 

Governors 

Charles Robinson 1861-1863 

Thomas Carney 1863-1865 

Samuel J. Crawford 1865-1868 

Resigned November 4, 1868. 

Nehemiah Green, Acting Governor 1868-1869 

James M. Harvey 1869-1873 

Thomas A. Osborn 1873-1877 

George T. Anthony 1877-1879 

John P. St. John 1879-1883 

George W. Glick 1883-1885 

John A. Martin 1885-1889 

Lyman U. Humphrey 1889-1893 

Lorenzo D. Lewelling 1893-1895 

Edmund N. Morrill 1895-1897 

John W. Leedy 1897-1899 

William E. Stanley 1899-1903 

Willis Joshua Bailey 1903-1905 

Edward W. Hoch 1905-1909 

Walter Roscoe Stubbs 1909-1913 

George H. Hodges 1913 

Lieutenant-Governors 

Joseph P. Root 1861-1863 

Thomas A. Osborn 1863-1865 

James McGrew 1865-1867 

Nehemiah Green 1867-1869 

Charles V. Eskridge 1869-1871 

Peter P. Elder 1871-1873 

Elias S. Stover 1873-1875 

Melville J. Salter 1875-1877 

Resigned July 19, 1877. 

Lyman U. Humphrey, elected November C 1878 

Lyman U. Humphrey 1879-1881 

D. W. Finney 1881-1885 

Alex. P. Riddle 1885-1889 

Andrew J. Felt 1889-1893 

Percy Daniels 1893-1895 

James A. Troutman 1895-1897 

A. M. Harvey 1897-1899 

H. E. Richter 1899-1903 

David J. Hanna 1903-1907 

W. J. Fitzgerald 1907-1911 

Richard J. Hopkins 1911-1913 

Sheffield Ingalls 1913-1915 



230 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Secretaries of State 

John Winter Robinson 1861-1862 

Removed July 28, 1862. 

Sanders Rufus Shepherd, appointed 1862 

William Wirt Henry Lawrence 18G3-1865 

Rinaldo Allen Barker 1865-1869 

Thomas Moonlight 1869-1871 

William Hillary Smallwood 1871-1875 

Thomas H. Cavanaugh 1875-1879 

James Smith 1879-1885 

Edwin Bird Allen 1885-1889 

William Higgins 1 889-1893 

Russel Scott Osborn 1 893-1895 

William Cogdon Edwards 1895-1897 

William Eben Bush 1897-1899 

George Alfred Clark 1899-1903 

Joel Randall Burrow 1903-1907 

C. E. Denton 1907-1911 

Charles H. Sessions 1911-1915 

Auditors 

George Shaler Hillyer 1861-1862 

Removed July 28, 1862. 

David Long Lakin, appointed 1862 

Asa Hairgrove 1863-1865 

John R. Swallow 1865-1869 

Alois Thoman 1869-1873 

Daniel Webster Wilder 1873-1876 

Resigned September 20, 1876. 

Parkinson Isaiah Bonebrake, appointed 1876 

Parkinson Isaiah Bonebrake 1877-1883 

Edward P. McCabe 1883-1887 

Timothy McCarthy 1 887-1891 

Charles Merrill Hovey 1891-1893 

Van B. Prather 1893-1895 

George Ezekiel Cole 1895-1897 

William H. Morris 1 897-1899 

George Ezekiel Cole 1 899-1903 

Seth Grant Wells 1 903-1907 

J. M. Nation 1907-1911 

W. E. Davis 1911 

Treasurers 
William Tholen, elected in 1859. 

Entered the army and did not qualify. 

Hartwin R. Dutton, appointed March 26 1861 

Hartwin R. Dutton, elected 1861-1863 

William Spriggs 1863-1867 

Martin Anderson 1867-1869 

George Graham 1869-1871 

Josiah Emery Hayes 1871-1874 

Resigned April 30, 1874. 

John Francis, appointed 1874 



APPENDIX 231 

Treasurers -co ncluded 

Samuel Lappin. «7«87B 

Resigned December 20, 18 i 5. 

John Francis, appointed 1077 irrq 

£ ohn S r T n Howe :::::::::: llss'-ill? 

Samuel 1 . Howe 1 sft7 1 RQft 

James William Hamilton 1887-1890 

Resigned March 1, 1890. 

William Simms, appointed i~w 

Solomon G. Stover 1893 1895 

WiHiam HemyBiddle \™g™ 

Otis L. Atherton 1 QQ7 1 8QQ 

^-^.Heflebower ™ 

Frank E. Grime, 1903-1907 

Thomas 1 . Kelly 1 Qn7 1 Q1 „ 

Mark Tully }^lz 

Earl Akers iyi ^" 

Attorneys-General 

Benjamin Franklin Simpson 1861 

Resigned July, 1861. 

Charles Chadwick, appointed 1 »bl 

Samuel A. Stinson JEfiq iRfit 

Warren W., Guthrie |«63 -1865 

Jerome D. Brumbaugh ?$# ~j r«q 

George Henry Hoyt {^7- 1869 

Addison Danford i rt? "l 87* 

Archibald L. Williams Tr?* irt? 

Asa M. F. Randolph il?Tl8Rl 

Willard Davis ?«ri i aal 

William A. Johnston , 1881-1884 

Resigned December 1, 1884. 

George P. Smith, appointed l»»4 

Simeon Briggs Bradford illqill? 

Lyman Beecher Kellogg irqTirqr 

John Nutt Ives. . ?8qq 1805 

John Thomas Little irqr i qq? 

Fernando B Dawes ;;;; \™ff™ 

Louis C. Boyle 1899-1903 

Aretas A. Godard i qoq i Q07 

Charles Crittenden Coleman T on? i qi i 

F. S. Jackson iqil 1915 

John S. Dawson I9ii iyia 

Superintendents of Public Instruction 

William Riley Griffith 1861-1862 

Died February 12, 1862 

Simeon Montgomery Thorp, appointed 18W 

Isaac T. Goodnow ilfi? ian 

Peter McVicar 1R71 187^ 

Hugh De France McCarty 1871-1875 



232 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Superintendents of Public Instruction — concluded 

John Fraser 1875-1877 

Allen Borsley Lemmon 1877-1881 

Henry Clay Speer 1881-1885 

Joseph Hadden Lawhead 1885-1889 

George Wesley Winans 1889-1893 

Henry Newton Gaines 1893-1895 

Edmund Stanley 1895-1897 

William Stryker " 1897-1899 

Frank Nelson 1899-1903 

Insley L. Dayhoff 1903-1907 

E. T. Fairchild 1907-1913 

W. D. Ross 1913 

Chief Justices 

Thomas Ewing, Jr 1861-1862 

Resigned November 28, 1862. 

Nelson Cobb, appointed 1862 

Robert Crozier 1863-1866 

Samuel Austin Kingman 1866-1876 

Resigned December 30, 1876. 

Albert Howell Horton, appointed 1876 

Albert Howell Horton 1877-1895 

Resigned April 30, 1895. 

David Martin, appointed 1895 

David Martin 1895-1897 

Frank Doster 1897-1903 

William Agnew Johnston 1903 

State Printers 

S. S. Prouty 1869-1873 

George W. Martin 1873-1881 

T. Dwight Thatcher 1881-1887 

Clifford C. Baker 1887-1891 

E. H. Snow 1891-1895 

J. K. Hudson 1895-1897 

J. S. Parks 1897-1899 

W. Y. Morgan 1899-1903 

George A. Clark 1903-1905 

T. A. McNeal 1905-1911 

W. C. Austin 1911-1915 

Superintendents of Insurance 

Webb McNall 1897-1899 

W. V. Church 1899-1903 

Charles H. Luling 1903-1907 

Charles W. Barnes 1907-1911 

Ike S. Lewis 1911-1915 



APPENDIX 233 

United States Senators 
James H. Lane 1861-1866 

Died July 11, 1866. 

Edmund G. Ross, appointed 1866 

Edmund G. Ross 1867-1871 

Alexander Caldwell 1871-1S73 

Resigned March 24, 1873. 

Robert Crozier, appointed 1873 

James M. Harvey, elected 1874 

Preston B. Plumb 1877-1891 

Died December 20, 1891. 

Bishop W. Perkins, appointed 1892 

John Martin, elected January 25 1893 

Lucien Baker 1895-1901 

Joseph Ralph Burton 1901-1906 

Resigned, 1906. 

A. W. Benson, appointed 1906 

Charles Curtis 1907-1913 

William H. Thompson 1913 

Samuel C. Pomeroy 1861-1873 

John James Ingalls 1 873-1891 

William Alfred Peffer 1891-1897 

William A. Harris 1897-1903 

Chester I. Long 1903-1909 

J. L. Bristow 1909-1915 

Congressmen 

Martin F. Conway 1861-1863 

Abel Carter Wilder 1863-1865 

Sidney Clarke 1865-1871 

David P. Lowe 1871-1875 

Stephen Alonzo Cobb 1873-1875 

William Addison Phillips 1873-1879 

William R. Brown 1875-1877 

John R. Goodin 1875-1877 

Dudley C. Haskell 1877-1883 

Thomas Ryan 1877-1889 

John Alexander Anderson 1879-1891 

Edmund N. Morrill 1883-1891 

Samuel Ritter Peters 1883-1891 

Lewis Hanback 1 883-1887 

Bishop W. Perkins 1883-1891 

Edward Hogue Funston 1883-1893 

Erastus J. Turner 1887-1891 

Harrison Kelley 1889-1891 

Case Broderick 1891-1899 

B. H. Clover 1891-1893 

John Davis 1891-1895 

J-y Simpson lis™ 

John Grant Otis 1891-1893 



234 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Congressmen — concluded 

William Baker 1891-1897 

William Alexander Harris 1893-1895 

Horace L. Moore 1893-1895 

Charles Curtis 1893-1905 

Thomas J. Hudson 1893-1895 

Richard W. Blue 1895-1897 

Orrin L. Miller 1895-1897 

Snyder S. Kirkpatrick 1895-1897 

_, + t t (1895-1897 

Chester I. Long j 1899-1905 

_-.. . « , , , , { 1895-1897 

William A. Calderhead j 1899-1911 

Jeremiah Dunham Botkin 1897-1899 

Mason Summers Peters 1897-1899 

N. B. McCormick 1897-1899 

Edwin Reed Ridgely 1897-1901 

William D. Vincent 1897-1899 

Willis Joshua Bailey 1899-1901 

Justin DeWitt Bowersock 1899-1905 

James Monroe Miller 1899-1911 

William Augustus Reeder 1899-1911 

Charles Frederick Scott 1901-1907 

Alfred Metcalf Jackson 1901-1903 

Philip Pitt Campbell 1903 

Victor Murdock 1903-1915 

D. R. Anthony 1907 

E. H. Madison 1907-1913 

A. C. Mitchell 1911-1913 

Fred S. Jackson 1911-1913 

R. R. Rees 1911-1913 

I. D. Young 1911-1913 

Joseph Taggart 1913 

Dudley Doolittle 1913 

Guy T. Helvering 1913 

John R. Connelly 1913 

George A. Neeley 1913-1915 



APPENDIX 235 

INSTITUTIONS IN KANSAS 

State Schools 

University of Kansas Lawrence. 

State Agricultural College Manhattan! 

State Normal School Emporia. 

Fort Hays Kansas Normal School Hays." 

State Manual Training Normal School Pittsburg.' 

Kansas School for the Blind Kansas City.' 

Kansas School for the Deaf Olathe! 

Denominational Schools 

Baker University, Methodist Episcopal Baldwin. 

Bethany College, Swedish Lutheran Lindsborg! 

Bethany College, Episcopalian Topeka. 

Bethel College, Mennonite Newton! 

Campbell University Holton! 

College of Emporia, Presbyterian Emporia! 

College Preparatory School (Private) Atchison! 

Cooper College, United Presbyterian Sterling! 

Enterprise Normal Academy, German M. E Enterprise! 

Fairmount College, Congregational Wichita! 

Fowler Friends Academy, Friends Fowler! 

Friends University, Friends Wichita! 

Highland University, Presbyterian Highland! 

Haviland Academy, Friends Haviland! 

Kansas City University, United Brethren Kansas City! 

Kansas Wesleyan University, Methodist Episcopal Salina! 

McPherson College, Church of the Brethren McPherson! 

Midland College, Lutheran Atchison! 

Mt. St. Scholastica's Academy, Catholic Atchison! 

Nazareth Academy, Catholic Concordia! 

Northbranch Academy, Friends Northbranch! 

Ottawa University, Baptist Ottawa. 

Southern Kansas Academy, Congregational Eureka! 

Southwestern College, Methodist Episcopal Winfield! 

St. Benedict's College, Catholic Atchison! 

St. John's Lutheran^College, Lutheran Winfield! 

St. Martin's School, Episcopalian Salina. 

St. Mary's Academy, Catholic ■ Leavenworth." 

St. Mary's Academy, Catholic Great Bend. 

St. Mary's College, Catholic St. Marys! 

Walden College, Evangelical McPherson." 

Washburn College, Congregational Topeka! 

State Penal or Corrective Institutions 

State Industrial Reformatory Hutchinson. 

State Industrial School for Girls Beloit! 

State Industrial School for Boys Topeka! 

State Penitentiary Lansing! 



236 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

State Benevolent Institutions 

State School for the Feeble-minded Winfield. 

State Hospital for the Insane Topeka. 

State Hospital for the Insane Osawatomie. 

State Hospital for the Insane Lamed. 

State Hospital for Epileptics Parsons. 

State Hospital for Tuberculosis Norton. 

Special Institutions 

State Soldiers' Home Fort Dodge. 

Mother Bickerdyke Home Ellsworth. 

Soldiers' Orphans' Home Atchison. 

State Colored Schools 

Topeka Industrial and Educational Institute Topeka. 

Western University Quindaro. 

Federal Institutions 

Haskell Institute, Indian Lawrence. 

Pottawatomie Boarding School for Indians Nadeau. 

Federal Prison Leavenworth. 

National Soldiers' Home Leavenworth. 



APPENDIX 



237 



Balance of Power in the United States Senate Between 
the Free and the Slave States 



Free. 


Slave. 




Pennsylvania. 


Delaware. 


The orginal thirteen 


New Jersey. 


Georgia. 


states. 


Connecticut. 


Maryland. 




Massachusetts. 


South Carolina. 




New Hampshire. 


Virginia. 




New York. 


North Carolina. 




Rhode Island. 






7 


6 




Vermont, 1791. 


Kentucky, 1792. 




Ohio, 1802. 


Tennessee, 1796. 




Indiana, 1816. 


Louisiana, 1812. 




Illinois, 1818. 


Mississippi, 1817. 






Alabama, 1819. 




11 


11 


The Missouri Com- 
promise, 1820. 


Maine, 1820. 


Missouri, 1821. 
Arkansas, 1836. 




12 


13 


First slave state 

majority. 


Michigan, 1837. 


Florida, 1845. 




Iowa, 1846. 


Texas, 1845. 


Last slave state. 


Wisconsin, 1848. 






15 


15 




California, 1850. 




Compromise of 1850. 


16 


15 


Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill, 1854. The last 


Minnesota, 1858. 




chance for the South to 


Oregon, 1859. 




win. 


Kansas, 1861. 






19 


15 


Secession and the Civil 
War. 



238 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTIES OF KANSAS 

Counties Organized Before 1860 

County. Date of Organization. County Seat. 

Allen 1855 Iola. 

Anderson 1855 Garnett. 

Atchison 1855 Atchison. 

Bourbon 1855 Fort Scott. 

Brown 1855 Hiawatha. 

Butler 1855 El Dorado. 

Chase 1859 Cottonwood Falls. 

Coffey 1859 Burlington. 

Dickinson 1857 Abilene. 

Doniphan 1855 Troy. 

Douglas 1855 Lawrence. 

Franklin 1855 Ottawa. 

Geary 1 1855 Junction City. 

Jackson 2 1857 Holton. 

Jefferson 1855 Oskaloosa. 

Johnson 1855 Olathe. 

Leavenworth 1855 Leavenworth. 

Linn 1855 Mound City. 

Marshall 1855 Marysville. 

Miami 3 1855 Paola. 

Morris 4 1855 Council Grove. 

Nemaha 1855 Seneca. 

Osage"' 1855 Lyndon. 

Pottawatomia 1856 Westmoreland. 

Riley 1855 Manhattan. 

Saline 1859 Salina. 

Shawnee 1855 Topeka 

Wabaunsee 6 1859 Alma 

Woodson 1855 Yates Center. 

Wyandotte 1855 Kansas City. 



1. Named Davis until 1889. 

2. Named Calhoun until 1859. 

3. Named Lykins until 1861. 

4. Named Wise until 1859. 

5. Named Weller until 1859. 

6. Named Richardson before 1859. 



APPENDIX 



239 



Counties Organized 1860-1870 

County. Date of Organization. County Seat. 

Cherokee 1866 Columbus. 

Clay..... 1866 Clay Center. 

Cloud 1 1860 Concordia. 

Crawford 1867 Girard. 

Ellis 1867 Hays. 

Ellsworth 1 867 Ellsworth. 

Greenwood 1862 Eureka. 

Labette 1867 Oswego. 

Lyon ;i 1 860 Emporia. 

Marion 1860 Marion. 

Montgomery 1869 Independence. 

Neosho 4 1864 Erie. 

Ottawa 1866 Minneapolis. 

Republic 1868 Belleville. 

Washington 1860 Washington. 

Wilson 1865 Fredonia. 



1. The original name. Shirley, changed to Chad in 1867. 

2. Part of Dorn County until 1861. Named Neoaho until 1867. 

3. Named Breckinridge until 1862. 

4. Named Dorn until 186L. 



240 A HISTORY OF KANSAS 

Counties Organized 1870-1880 

County Date of Organization. County Seat. 

Barber 1873 Medicine Lodge. 

Barton 1872 Great Bend- 

Chautauqua 1875 Sedan- 

Cowley 1 1870 Winfield. 

Decatur 1879 Oberlin- 

Edwards 1874 Kinsley. 

Elk* 1875 Howard. 

Ford 1873 Dodge City. 

Harper* 1873 Anthony. 

Harvey 1872 Newton. 

Hodgeman 1879 Jetmore- 

Jewell 1870 Mankato. 

Kingman 1874 Kingman. 

Lincoln 1870 Lincoln. 

McPherson 1870 McPherson. 

Mitchell 1870 Beloit. 

Norton 1872 Norton. 

Osborne 1871 Osborne. 

Pawnee 1872 Larned. 

Phillips 1872 Phillipsburg. 

Pratt* 1879 Pratt. 

Reno 1872 Hutchinson. 

Rice 1871 Lyons. 

Rooks 1872 Stockton. 

Rush 1874 La Crosse. 

Russell 1872 Russell. 

Sedgwick 1870 Wichita. 

Smith 1872 Smith Center. 

Stafford 1879 St. John. 

Sumner 1871 Wellington. 

Trego 1879 Wa Keeney. 

1. Originally named Hunter. 

2. Originally the northern portion of Howard county. 

\* First organization in 1873, later set aside as fraudulent 



APPENDIX 241 

Counties Organized 1880-1890 

C° unt V- Date of Organization. Coun(ll w 

Cheyenne 1886 t0UT % Seat : 

Clark S St. Francis. 

Comanche ;; . . 7 88 ? .. Ashland. 

SW.::::::-^ :::::::: ; : ®"""::::::::::::fiS2^: 

Gray. 1, Ulysses. 

Greeley. . .'.'. \ [ \ \ \ \ \ \ [ [ [ [ [ ] ' "^ Cimarron. 

Hamilton 188 -Tribune. 

Haskeii .::::::::::i887 ;:::. f a y "- 

£? a ™y 1888 T »lHn' 

Kiowa 188 3 ■ • • • • Lakm. 

Lane 188 ? Greensburg. 

Logan : III? w •v.^ton. 

Meade { 88 5 Russe11 Springs. 

Morton 188 fi -r^eade. 

Ness* llll XT Rlch 5 eld - 

Rawlins. . JqoV Ne A ss Clt y- 

scott ..:::::::::::::.i886::;:;:;;;;; At ^- 

Seward i 886 V'-u , 

Sheridan J 88 Liberal. 

Sherman " 1886 • • • ** oxl f • 

Stanton j 88 ? Goodland. 

Stevens ioo* -Johnson. 

Thomas J ." ." .' .' | 188 £ Hugoton. 

Wichita J 88 2 Colby. 

Wallace .' .* { 888 fev, • -Leoti. 

- 111 100 ° Sharon Springs. 

1. Named Sequoyah until 1883. 

• First organization in 1873, later set aside as fraudulent. 



INDEX 



Abilene, 158. 

Actual Settlers' Association, 69. 

Adams, Franklin G., 223. 

Adams, Zu, 223. 

Admission of Kansas, 100, 108. 

Agriculture, taught to the Indi- 
ans, 47, 141; Territorial days, 
142; during Civil War, 142; 
1860 to 1880, 146; 1880 to 
1887, 147; 1887 to 1893, 147; 
1893 to 1913, 153; basis of 
prosperity, 169. 

Agriculture, Board of, 161. 

Agricultural College, 142, 161, 
191, 193, 194. 

Agricultural Society, 142, 161. 

Aid from the East, 107, 121. 

Allerton, Ellen P., 225. 

Alfalfa, 149, 150. 

Alliance, Farmers', 160. 

Amendments to the Constitu- 
tion, 138. 

Anderson, John A., 222. 

Andreas' History of Kansas, 225. 

Appendix, 215-241. 

Apple Crop, 159. 

Aplington, Kate A., 226. 

Army of the North, 90. 

Arizona, 29. 

Arkansas City, 129. 

Ash Creek, 38. 

Atchison, D. R., 74, 76. 

Atchison, 21, 43, 70, 166. 

Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe, 
building of, 176-178. 



Attorneys-General, Territorial, 
228; State, 231. 

Auditors, Territorial, 227; State, 
230. 

Baker University, 197, 235. 

Balance of Power, 58; table of, 
237. 

Baptist Missions, 217. 

Barton County, 201. 

Barber, murder of, 86. 

Becknell, journey of, 31. 

Beet Sugar Factory, 151. 

Berryman, Rev. J. C, 217. 

Black Jack, battle of, 87. 

Blackmar, F. W., 226. 

"Bleeding Kansas," 93. 

Blue Lodges, 66. 

Bluemont College, 193. 

Board of Administration, 197. 

Boom, 127-129, 147. 

Board of Agriculture, 161. 

Bogus Legislature, 76, 77, 79, 80, 
212. 

Boston, 71. 

Beecher, Henry Ward, 88. 

Bickerdyke, Mary A., 223. 

Branson, Jacob, 81. 

Brick, 168. 

Brewer, David J., 222. 

Brown, John, 86; at Pottawa- 
tomie, 87; at Osawatomie, 88, 
91, 98; site of battle-field, 204; 
monument, 206. 

Broom Corn, 151. 

Buchanan, President, 100. 



(243) 



244 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Buffalo, 9, 18, 21, 26, 33, 37, 40, 

49, 117, 124, 125. 
Butler County, 118. 
Cabeza de Vaca, 10, 11, 37. 
Cache, how made, 39. 
California, 29, 173; gold fields, 

41, 42; Road, 43, 70; emigra- 
tion to, 63. 

Capital, State, 100. 

Capitals, Territorial, 215. 

Capitol, State, 131. 

Carruth, William Herbert, 224. 

Carson, Kit, 41. 

Catholic, priests, 16; missions, 

50, 218. 
Cattle Trade, 158. 
Census, first Territorial, 75. 
Cherokee County, 165. 

Chief Justices, Territorial, 228; 

State, 2C2. 
Cibola, 11. 

Cimarron River, 32, 33, 39. 
Cimarron Crossing, 39. 
Civil War, 111-114, 117, 130, 

131, 142, 163. 
Clark, Esther M., 226. 
Clark, William, 20. 
Cloud County, 117. 
Coal, 163. 
Columbus, 9, 10. 
Coleman, 80. 

Colorado, 22, 29, 149, 151. 
Colleges, list of, 235. 
College of Emporia, 197. 
Colby, 162. 

Comanche Indians, 25, 34. 
Commission, Railroad, 180. 
Congressmen, 233, 234. 
Connelley, William Elsey, 226. 
Consolidated Schools, 187. 



Constitution, Topeka, 79, 80, 95, 
215; Lecompton, 96, 215; 
Leavenworth, 97, 215; Wyan- 
dotte, 99, 107, 215. 

Constitutions, summary of, 215. 

Corn, 155, 156. 

Coronado, 10-14, 49; monument 
for, 206; sword of, 208. 

Cortez, 10, 11, 29. 

Cotton Gin, 57. 

Council Grove, 34, 73, 204. 

Counties organized, 114, 123; 
list of, 235. 

County High School, 189. 

Cowboy, 157, 158. 

Crawford County, 165. 

Crawford, Samuel J., 118, 226. 

Crops of Kansas, 146, 147. 

Dairying, 156. 

Daughters of American Revolu- 
tion, 203. 

Democratic Party, 99. 

Denominational Schools, 197, 
235. 

Denver, Governor, 98. 

Dodge City, 13, 162; cattle trade 
center, 158. 

Domestic Science, 187. 

Don Carlos, Mrs. Louisa Cooke, 
226. 

Douglas County, 80. 

Douglas, Stephen A., 59. 

Dow, 80. 

Drouth, 67, 106, 120, 129, 142, 
147, 153. 

Dugout, 103. 

Education, 183-199; see Schools. 

Eldridge, 86. 

Election, first Territorial, 73; 
second Territorial, 75. 



INDEX 



245 



Elwood, 174. 

Emigrant Aid Company, 65, 66, 
86. 

Emporia, 191. 

English, 17. 

Exodus, 126. 

Experiment Station, 161-162. 

Extension Work, 197. 

Farmers' Alliance, 160. 

Farmers' Institutes, 162. 

Farmers' Organizations, 160. 

Farmers' Educational and Co- 
operative Union, 161. 

Farming Implements, 143-146. 

Father Padilla, 49, 50. 

Feterita, 151. 

Floods, 133. 

Foreign Settlements, 178, 179. 

Fort Dodge, 38, 54, 220. 

Fort Hays, 54, 220. 

Fort Hays Kansas Normal 
School, 193. 

Fort Leavenworth, 51, 53, 219. 

Forts, list of, 219-221. 

Fort Riley, 52, 54, 73, 76, 204, 
205, 219. 

Fort Scott, 54, 165, 219. 

Forty-niners, 42. 

Fourth of July Creek, 21. 

France, 16; end of claims in 
America, 18. 

Franklin, 33, 90. 

Fremont, John C, 41. 

Friends University, 197. 

Friends Missions, 50, 217. 

Funston, Fred, 131. 

Fur Traders, 48. 

Garden City, 151, 162. 

Gardner, 43. 

Gas, 166, 169. 



Geary, John W., 91, 92, 93, 95. 

Giles, F. W., 225. 

Glass, 169. 

Gleed, Charles, 226. 

Glick, Geo. W., 205. 

Gold Seekers, 41-43. 

Good Roads, 189. 

Goss, Nathaniel S., 225. 

Governors, Territorial, 227; 

State, 229. 
Graham, Effie, 226. 
Grange, 160. 

Grasshopper Invasion, 120, 127. 
Gray, Alfred, 223. 
Great American Desert, 24, 25, 

29, 107, 123. 
Great Bend, 13. 
Great Salt Lake, 42. 
Great Seal of Kansas, 116. 
Gregg, Josiah, 35. 
Greenwood County, 118. 
Gypsum, 169. 
Hall of Fame, 204, 205. 
Hamelton, 98. 
Hand Planter, 142. 
Harger, Charles M., 226. 
Harris, William A., 222. 
Harvey, Henry, 218. 
Hays, 162. 

Highland College, 50. 
Hinton, R. J., 225. 
History of Kansas, 201, 2!-'5 
Historical Society, 207-208. 
Homes of Kansas, 102. 
Homestead Law, 119. 
Horner, Hattie, 225. 
Horses, used on Trail, 33. 
Horticulture, 159. 
Howe, E. W., 225, 226. 
Hudson, Mary W., 225. 



246 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Hutchinson, 166, 167. 

Immigration, 65, 66, 89, 107, 
117, 119, 123, 130, 178, 179. 

Illinois, 66. 

Independence, 33, 34. 

Independence Creek, 21. 

Indians, 9, 21, 57, 73, 135; tribes 
of, 25; and traders, 32; experi- 
ence with, 39; possessed Kan- 
sas, 46-54; reservations, 47; 
taught in missions, 51; re- 
moval of, 46-48; raids, 111, 
117, 118; as farmers, 141. 

Indiana, 66. 

Indian Territory, 48. 

Industries of Kansas, 141-170. 

Ingalls, John J., 88, 204, 210, 
225. 

Inman, Henry, 226. 

Institutions, State, 235, 236. 

Insurance, Superintendents of, 
232. 

Iowa, 66, 89, 90. 

"Iron Trail," 177. 

Irrigation, 148, 149. 

Irving, 24. 

Irwin, Rev. S. M., 217. 

Jayhawkers, 98. 

Jefferson, President, 18, 20. 

Jesuits, 16, 49. 

Johnson, Mrs. Elizabeth A., 202. 

Johnson, Rev. Thomas, 51. 

Johnson, William, 217. 

Joliet, 16. 

Jones, Sheriff, 80, 82, 85. 

Junction City, 13. 

Kafir Corn, 151. 

Kansas, admission of, 100, 108. 

Kansas City, 40, 51, 67, 68, 69, 
113, 133, 163, 166, 173. 



Kansas History, in the making, 

213. 
Kansas Spirit, 211-214. 
Kansas Pacific Railroad, 175. 
Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 59, 64, 

65. 
Kansas Territory, map, 56; 

organization, 59. 
Kansas To-day, 135, 137. 
Kanza Indians, 25, 34, 46. 
Kaw Indians, same as Kanza 

Indians. 
King, Henry, 225. 
Kingman, Samuel A., 222. 
La Croix, Father, 218. 
Land Grants, 178. 
Lane, James H., 79, 80, 88, 90, 

100. 
La Salle, 16. 
Lawrence, 67, 69, 70, 80, 82, 85, 

90, 100, 166; sacking of, 86; 

defense of, 92; Quantrill raid, 

112; floods, 133, 135. 
Lawrence, Amos A., 67. 
Lead and Zinc, 165. 
Leavenworth, 21, 43, 70. 
Leavenworth Constitution, 97, 

166. 
Lecompton, 70, 89, 90, 96, 97. 
Leedy, Governor, 161. 
Legislature, Free-state, 96. 
Legislature, Bogus, 76, 77, 79, 

80; second Territorial, 95. 
Legislatures, summary of, 215. 
Length of school term, 184. 
Lewelling, Governor, 161. 
Lewis and Clark, expedition of, 

20-25. 
Lieutenant-Governors, 229. 
Lincoln, 110. 



INDEX 



247 



Lindsborg, 179. 

Linn County, 98, 114. 

Live Stock, 156. 

Locomotive, invention of, 172; 
old and modern, 180. 

Long, Major, 24. 

Louisiana, naming of, 16; pur- 
chase of, 18, 46, 58; explora- 
tion of, 20. 

Lykins, Dr. Johnson, 217. 

Manhattan, 70, 161, 175, 193, 
194. 

Manual Training Normal 
School, 192. 

Marais des Cygnes Massacre, 
98, 206. 

Marion County, 118. 

Manual Training, 187, 188. 

Manufactures, 163. 

Markham, Thomas B., 217. 

Marquette, 16. 

Marys ville, 174. 

Mason, Walt, 226. 

McCarter, Margaret Hill, 226. 

McCoy, Rev. Isaac, 50, 217. 

McCoy, Joseph G., 225. 

McKeever, W. A., 226. 

Meat Packing, 163, 179. 

Meeker, Jotham, 50. 

Mexico, 17, 22, 29; war with, 41, 
53. 

Memorial Hall, 8, 206. 

Memorials of Kansas, 201-209. 

Mendenhall, Rev. M., 218. 

Mennonites, 155, 178. 

Methodist Missions, 51, 217. 

Miller, Sol, 102. 

Milling, 163, 179. 

Milo, 151. 

Mine Creek, 114. 



Mineral resources, 163. 

Minneola, 215. 

Mirage, 40. 

Missionaries, 48, 49, 50, 51. 

Missions, established, 50, 51, 54, 

141; list of, 217-218. 
Missouri Compromise, 58, 59. 
Missouri River closed to free- 
state immigration, 89. 
Montgomery, James, 98. 
Monuments, 205-207. 
Moody, Joel, 225. 
Morgan, Wm. Y., 226. 
Mormons, 42, 53. 
Mormon Trail, 43. 
Mortgages, 129. 
Mounds, 114. 
Mount Oread, 67, 195. 
Mutual Benefit Association, 160. 
Munger, Mrs. Dell H., 226. 
Narvaez, 10. 

National Government, protected 
traders, 33 ; sent out Fremont, 
41; removal policy of, 46; 
established Fort Leavenworth, 
53. 
Nebraska, 25, 43, 89, 90, 151. 
Neosho River, 34. 
New England Emigrant Aid 
Company, first party, 66; 
second party, 67; third and 
fourth parties, 69. 
New Mexico, 11, 21, 29, 40. 
New Spain, 10, 11, 14. 
Nevada, 29. 

Nichols, Mrs. C. I. H., 223. 
Nineteenth Kansas, 118. 
Normal Schools, 190, 191, 192, 

235. 
Northern Route to Kansas, 89. 



248 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Officers, Territorial, 227, 228; 
State, 229-234. 

"Old Mill," 143. 

Ohio, 66. 

Oil, 166. 

Oklahoma, 25, 48, 60, 166; open- 
ing of, 129. 

Oregon Trail, 43. 

Oregon, emigrants to, 41. 

Organization of Kansas Terri- 
tory, 57-60. 

Osage County, 165. 

Osage Indians, 21, 25, 34, 46, 
217. 

Osawatomie, 87; pillaged, 88; 
burned, 91. 

Ottawa University, 50, 197. 

Oxen, 33, 37, 67, 104. 

Pack Mules, 31. 

Padilla, Father, 49, 50. 

Padoucas, 26. 

Panic of 1893, 130, 153. 

Patrons of Husbandry, 159. 

Pawnee, town of, 76. 

Pawnee Capitol, 52, 76, 205. 

Pawnee Fork, 38. 

Pawnee Indians, 14, 21, 34, 38, 
202. 

Pawnee Rock, 37, 201, 202. 

Peffer, William A., 225. 

Peck, George R., 225. 

Pennsylvania, 66. 

People's Party, 161. 

Peery, Rev. E. T., 217. 

Phillips, William A., 225. 

Pierce, President, 63. 

Pike's Peak, 23. 

Pike, Zebulon Montgomery, 21- 
23, 25, 29, 30, 202, 203. 

Pioneer life, 103-109, 123, 124, 
125. 



Pioneer Schools, 186. 
Plumb, Preston B., 222. 
Pony Express, 173. 
Pomeroy, Samuel C, 67; made 

senator, 100. 
Popular Sovereignty, 59, 74. 
Population of Kansas, 1854, 54; 

1955, 75; 1859, 107; 1865, 114. 
Populist Party, 161. 
Portland Cement, 169. 
Pottawatomie Massacre, 87, 98. 
Prentis, Noble L., 224, 225. 
Presbyterian Missions, 50, 217. 
Price Raid, 113. 
Printers, State, 232. 
Prohibition Amendment, 138, 

213. 
Public Utilities Commission, 

180. 
Quantrill Raid, 112; loss from, 

113; monument, 206. 
Quivira, poem, 8; land of, 11, 12, 

13, 14; Indians, 26, 50. 
Railroads, 127, 147, 172-181 

first one in Kansas, 174 

Kansas advertised by, 178 

relation to industries, 179 

regulation of, 180; mileage 

180. 
Railroad Commission, 180. 
Redpath, James, 225. 
Realf, Richard, 225. 
Reeder, Andrew H., 73, 76, 79 

88. 
Regiments of Kansas soldiers 

118, 130. 
Reign of Violence, 87-93. 
Regulation of railroads, 180. 
Removal Policy, 50. 
Republic County, 21, 117, 202. 
Republican Party, 99. 



INDEX 



249 



Richardson, Albert D., 225. 

"Rifle Christians," 88. 

Robinson, Dr. Charles, 67, 79, 
80, 225; home burned, 86; 
held prisoner, 89; first gover- 
nor, 100. 

Robinson, Mrs. Sara T. D., 223, 
225. 

Ross, Edmund G., 223. 

Round Mound, 40. 

Rural Schools, pioneer, 186; 
modern, 187. 

Sacramento, 42. 

Salt Lake, 42, 173, 174. 

Salt Lake Trail, 70. 

Salt, 167. 

San Francisco, 173, 174. 

Santa Fe Trail, 29-41, 58, 172, 
173, 177; map of, 28; length of, 
34, 43; marking of, 203. 

Santa Fe, city, 29, 30, 41, 173. 

Scott, Charles F., 225. 

Schoenmaker, Rev., 218. 

Schools, established by missions, 
50; Territorial, 183; first in 
Lawrence, 183; subscription, 
183; length of term, 184; 
during Civil War, 184; pioneer 
schools, 186; rural, 187; con- 
solidated, 187; high schools, 
189; State, 190-198, 235; for 
blind, 195; for deaf, 195; of 
mines, 195; denominational, 
197, 235. 

Seal of State, 116. 

Secretaries, Territorial, 227; 
State, 230. 

Senate, 58. 

Senators, State, 223. 

Seven Cities of Cibola, 11. 

Shannon, Wilson, 77, 82, 87, 91. 



Shawnee Indians, 51. 

Shawnee Mission, 51, 76; as 

capital, 76. 
Sheldon, Charles M., 226. 
Simmerwell, Rev. Robert, 217. 
Slaves, 63. 
Slavery in United States, 57, 64, 

73. 
Smith, F. Dumont, 226. 
Snow, Francis Huntington, 222. 
Sod Corn, 143. 
Sod House, 106. 
Sod Schoolhouse, 184. 
Soldiers, 41, 48; furnished by 

Kansas, 111, 206. 
Song of the Kansas Emigrant, 

62. 
Sorghum Crops, 148, 151. 
Southern Aid, 89. 
Southeastern Kansas, 97. 
Southwestern University, 197. 
Spain, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 22. 
Spanish-American War, 130. 
Speer, John, 225. 
Spuing, L. W., 225. 
Squatter Sovereignty, 59. 
Stage Lines, 172, 173. 
State Fair, Leavenworth, 142. 
Steam Plow, 146. 
Steele, James W., 225. 
Stockyards, 154. 
Stringfellow, B. F., 76. 
St. John, Governor, 138. 
St. Joseph, 43, 173, 174. 
St. Mary's College, 50. 
Stone, building, 163; quarry, 

168. 
Sugar Beets, 151. 
Superintendents of Public In- 
struction, Territorial, 228; 

State, 231. 



250 



A HISTORY OF KANSAS 



Supplies Taken by Traders, 33. 

Swedish Settlements, 179. 

Sword, old Spanish, 208. 

Tecumseh, 90. 

Telegraph, 174. 

Territory, government of, 73. 

Territorial Officers, 227, 228. 

Texas, 18, 23, 158. 

Thayer, Eli, 65, 66. 

The Caches, 38. 

The Three R's, 186. 

The "2700," 93, 94. 

Tomlinson, W. P., 225. 

Topeka, 70, 90, 100, 133, 135, 

166. 
Topeka Constitution, 79, 95, 

215. 
Topeka Movement, 215. 
Trading Posts, 49, 54. 
Trading Post Ford, 114. 
Trails, Santa Fe, 29-41; Oregon, 

43; California, 43; Mormon, 

43; Salt Lake, 70. 
Trail Markers, 203, 204. 
Trappers, 126. 
Traveling Libraries, 198. 
Treasurers, Territorial, 228; 

State, 230. 
Turk, 12. 
Twentieth to Twenty-third 

Kansas, 130. 
Underflow, 149. 
Union Pacific Railroad, 157, 174, 

178, 206. 
University of Kansas, 67, 191, 

195, 196. 



Utah, 29. 

Van Quickenborn, Father, 218. 
Wagons, used on Trail, 31, 39. 
Wakarusa War, 80-82. 
Walker, Governor, arrival of, 95; 

resigned, 98. 
War, Civil, 108, 111-115, 130, 

131; French and Indian, 17; 

Revolutionary, 17; Spanish- 
American, 130. 
Ware, Eugene F., 200, 224, 226. 
Washburn College, 197. 
Wellhouse, Frederick, 223. 
Wellington, 1«6. 
Western Kansas, 148, 149, 178. 
Westport, 33, 43, 80, 113. 
Wheat, 152, 153, 155. 
White, William Allen, 226. 
Wichita, 166. 

Wilder, Daniel W., 224, 225. 
Windmill, at Lawrence, 143; 

irrigation, 148. 
Winter of 1855-'56, 85. 
Woman's Kansas Day Club, 201. 
Woman's Relief Corps, 204. 
Woman Suffrage, 138. 
Wood, S. N., 88. 
Woodson, Daniel, 77; opened 

Kansas to invaders, 91. 
Woodward, Bointon W., 225. 
Writers, Kansas, 225, 226. 
Wyandotte Constitution, 99, 

100, 107. 



11™ 




